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Agnes Jones-Trower was watching the Board of Education's meeting June 8 when the inspiration for her school board election campaign appeared on the screen.

That inspiration was the approval of a contract between Montgomery County Public Schools and Pearson Education to develop an integrated elementary school curriculum. Under the deal, Pearson will be able to sell the curriculum while paying the school system 2.5 percent in royalty fees.

The goals driving the Pearson agreement are questionable and won't bring in much money for the school system, she argued, and selling the school system's name to a private company is representative of the school board making poor decisions.

"There was just so much to think about. There was no discussion. So how can you really know what you were getting into?" Jones-Trower said.

Jones-Trower is running against current District 1 representative Judith Docca, along with Michael Ibanez in the Sept. 14 primary. The top two vote-getters will square off in the Nov. 2 general election.

Jones-Trower is upset with what she sees as too much acquiescence by the board toward Superintendent of Schools Jerry D. Weast on policy issues. In general, she said the board needs to assert its authority and press for documentation and clear answers from Weast and other school officials.

"We work for the constituents. We don't work for MCPS," she said. "We're supposed to represent the people who elected us. We're supposed to work in conjunction with MCPS."

She said she shares the goals and policy objectives of the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, an advocacy group that has been critical of Weast and the school board on budgetary and classroom issues — from the installation of synthetic turf fields to the amount of money spent on public relations.

Following Weast's announcement that he will retire at the end of the school year, Jones-Trower indicated she would like a much different kind of superintendent to succeed him.

Major areas where the school board has failed the community, Jones-Trower said, include budget oversight and tracking money that is moved around to cover shortfalls. She said the school system has transferred special-education money to cover other budget areas, shortchanging special-education students.

She also wants the contracts the school has with three employee unions to be renegotiated to reduce employee benefits, while administrative positions not directly impacting student education should be evaluated and removed.

Jones-Trower also wants a new fiscal officer to answer directly to the school board about school budget matters. More broadly, she said the maintenance-of-effort law that requires counties to budget at least as much as the previous fiscal year for education — unless a waiver is granted — needs to be changed.

She expressed concern for students who have had teachers removed under the Peer Assistance and Review program used to reform or weed out underperforming teachers. Not enough is being done to make sure those students are brought back up to the level of others, Jones-Trower said.

-Residence: Gaithersburg

-Political party: Nonpartisan race

-Age: 51

-Family: Husband and two children, ages 19 and 25

-Education: Ph.D, molecular and cell biology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda

-Professional experience: 25 years as a scientist in federal, academic and pharmaceutical/biotech laboratories

-Community experience: Member, Montgomery County Civic Federation; activist, Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County; past president, Learning Disabilities Association of Montgomery County; community PTA member, Gaithersburg HS; former PTA member, Mill Creek Towne ES and Magruder HS;

-Key issues: Fiscal responsibility, transparency and meeting the needs of all students

-Website: agnes4boe.wordpress.com

aujifusa@gazette.net