Another School Board Member Bails

This time it's the President of the Montgomery County Board of Education. The Gazette has it:

County school board President Charles Haughey will not stand for re-election this year.

Haughey (At large) of Rockville said he made the decision ‘‘after a weekend poll” of family members, including his wife, Barbara E. Haughey, a principal at Ashburton Elementary School in Bethesda.

‘‘Our grandchildren are growing up much too fast and they’re in Charlotte,” Haughey said Tuesday. ‘‘If I have a four-year commitment to the board, [Barbara] has a four-year commitment at her school.”

Haughey said his wife has no plans to leave Ashburton, but added that he has been nudging her toward retirement.

Haughey, who was elected in 2002, is the second board member in a week to announce that he will not seek a second term. Last week, Gabriel Romero (Dist. 1) of Montgomery Village said he will not stand for re-election.

There are four seats up for election: District 1, District 3, District 5 and at large. Board members Nancy Navarro (Dist. 5) of Silver Spring and Patricia B. O’Neill (Dist. 3) of Bethesda have filed for candidacy in their respective districts.

Haughey said he would regret not being able to see reforms to the school system’s sex education curriculum and to middle schools programs through to their fruition. Haughey won’t seek second term

I appreciate that he is going to miss reforming the sex-ed curriculum. We need conscientious, fearless board members to see that it's done right.

TeachTheFacts will be watching the fall races closely, and will want to learn exactly where candidates for these openings stand on the issues related to the development of a new Family Life and Human Development curriculum. We'll be watching and listening carefully, and will report here what we learn as the elections come closer.