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A recent comment by a veteran county school board member about "PIA" parents, or pains in the ass, has sparked a debate between elected officials and the parent-activists who felt the remark was directed at them.

The topic of overly combative parents has been an ongoing discussion among some school system staff. The parents, employees say, often do more harm than good because their endless pursuit of information takes time away from moving forward with the education of the system's 140,000 students.

Historically, the staff complaints were voiced privately and rarely reiterated in public. But during a May 12 school board meeting in Rockville, underlying tensions bubbled to the surface.

On that day, board members were discussing language in a policy to require that principals provide opportunities for a "broad range of stakeholders" to be part of school improvement teams, which include parents who recommend ways to better the schools.

The school board's two newest members — Philip Kauffman (At-large) of Olney and Laura V. Berthiaume (Dist. 2) of Rockville — had expressed concern that the improvement teams don't include a diverse group of parents. Some parents, Berthiaume added, might be excluded from the teams because they don't know the teams exist.

School board Vice President Patricia B. O'Neill took it a step further.

"I'm not aware of groups being excluded," said O'Neill (Dist. 3) of Bethesda. "I am aware that if I was a principal working on this, I might not pick the PIAs, the pain in the ass people in the school, to be at the table doing that, because they may only be representing their own views and not the greater interests of the school."

The remark evoked chuckles throughout the board room. "Maybe we should put ‘No PIAs'" in the policy, O'Neill added.

Janis Sartucci, an outspoken member of the county's Parents Coalition, an advocacy group, immediately posted the video on the group's Web blog and YouTube.

Coalition members say the group has about 345 participants; roughly 15 members blog regularly on the site. The bloggers regularly weigh in on everything from cuts to school programs to the system's supposed lack of fiscal responsibility. O'Neill has said the coalition's posts border on "cyber-bullying."

On Monday, Sartucci said she had been videotaping the meeting.

"I think maybe she's tired of being a board member," Sartucci said of O'Neill, who has been on the board since 1998. "I found it very troubling. Here we have board members expressing disdain for the parents wanting more inclusiveness."

Some parents also took issue with school board member Christopher S. Barclay's comments during the meeting about parent advocacy in schools.

Schools are largely inclusive, but "what does exist is that, and I would expect this of anybody who develops a team, you look for team players," Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park said. "What's needed are people who, when on that team, can disagree in a respectful manner."

The parents who accuse principals of exclusion "may not get invited because they are not agreeable, and they don't know how to agree to disagree," Barclay added.

A day after the board meeting, Lyda Astrove, a Parents Coalition member and special education advocate, posted a 10-question quiz on the coalition's Web site, asking parents if they're a "team player" or a PIA. Another parent on the coalition site, under the moniker of "Magnet Mom," said the school system ought to learn "gracious professionalism."

And Frederick Stichnoth, a well-known advocate for a separate gifted and talented curriculum, sent an e-mail to media outlets this week, saying that his comments to the school board about school improvement team policy were both "respectful" and "professional," which was an apparent swipe at Barclay's comments last week.

O'Neill and Barclay did not back down from their comments in subsequent interviews with The Gazette. They both said that the comments were not directed at the Parents Coalition.

"My issue is how to get broad interpretation in school improvement plans," Barclay said Monday. "Parents should advocate and push, but are you pushing to improve the quality of teaching? Are you pushing for your kids, or all kids?"

O'Neill said her comments probably won't slow the endless stream of public information requests that flow into the school system from parent-activists.

"My comments were specifically targeted at parents at local schools who hound principals," she said. "When you're on a team at the building level, you need to be looking at the big picture. If it hit a nerve, do you need to take a timeout for self-reflection?"

Although O'Neill's and Barclay's comments left some hard feelings, it is not the first time a school board member has clashed with a parent.

Almost four years ago to the day, then-board member Stephen N. Abrams engaged in a shouting match with Thomas D. Broadwater Jr., a member of the African American Parents of Montgomery County, over the lack of black students in the school system's gifted and talented program.

With parent advocates, "sometimes they go off the deep end, and some of them lose credibility pretty quickly," Abrams said this week. "When parents take things out of context and use them against the school system, they get backlash from the school system and elected officials. Sometimes, there are extraordinarily involved parents who can drive you crazy."

Staff Writer Sean R. Sedam contributed to this report.