On Friday evening, Scott Ewart held the third in his series of online debates for Howard County Board of Education candidates, this time for District 3. Of the three candidates in District 3, one is head-and-shoulders above the rest (spoiler: it’s Jolene Mosley), but I’ll cover all of them anyway.
Tom Heffner
Tom Heffner is a mystery to me. His website states that he has experience solving hard problems and innovating. When it comes to the issues, he has some fleshed-out ideas on his website, such as less standardized testing and better teacher evaluations, but when it comes to what is probably the biggest short- and long-term issue the BOE faces (the budget), he says nothing other than that he feels fiscal constraints are good because they help us to think creatively. I would have liked to have heard more about his “creative” ideas during the debate. Instead, there was a lot of “yeah, what Jolene said” and nothing else of substance. His website states that “talk is cheap,” and based on the debate, I can confirm that that is quite true.
Jolene Mosley
Jolene Mosley, data scientist and mother of four, is a longtime community volunteer and education advocate, having served as 1st Vice Chair of the Community Advisory Council, as a member of the Operating Budget Review Committee (OBRC), and many other advocacy roles. Her work in outcome analysis and projection modeling brings an analytical skill set that will be of value to the BOE when considering matters such as utilization and boundary analysis. During the debate, her answers were reasonable and articulate, and most importantly, grounded in reality rather than pie-in-the-sky. When you also consider that she is the only candidate in District 3 to receive an “A” grade from the Community Allies of Rainbow Youth (CARY), she is by far the superior candidate for this district.
Gian Alfeo
We’ve got one last candidate to discuss, and as my Appalachian relatives would say, hoooo lawd. I left Gian Alfeo for last because, well, that’s where he ought to end up on Election Day. In fact, I’m not going to discuss his debate performance at all, because it’s entirely irrelevant when we’re talking about a neanderthal who could fill an entire wing in my Hall of Shame. I’ll let the memes he posts publicly on his Facebook page speak for themselves. WARNING: offensive content below.
And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface, as there is plenty of sexual content on his page for everyone to see. I think it’s safe to say that this man has no business sitting on a Board of Education for a school system made up of staff and students who are female, Muslim, transgender, or any other demographic that he has disparaged or objectified. Over and out, bro.