Like most college sophomores, Raaheela Ahmed isn’t sure what she wants to be when she grows up.
At one point she thought maybe a business executive. Now she’s leaning more toward a lawyer.
Three college students running for school board in Prince George’s County
More news about education
Back to school: School Days 2012-13
Get updates from around the region as local students return to the classroom.
Why hasn’t U-Va.’s governing board been replaced?
All you need to know about why the University of Virginia governing board needs a serious shakeup can be found in an interview that my colleagues did with the school’s president, Teresa Sullivan.
Fairfax schools will repay federal government $1 million
An investigation by the school school found that documents concerning a multimillion-dollar-grant in 2000 were falsified.
Math scores fall in Va.
State officials attribute the drop in scores from previous years to tougher exams.
But one thing is for certain, Ahmed said. She wants to give back to the public school system where she earned a diploma. And she wants to do it now.
That’s why at age 19 Ahmed is challenging Board of Education Chairman Verjeana M. Jacobs (District 5) for a seat on the board of Maryland’s second-largest school system.
She is one of three college students — all younger than 21 — competing in the Prince George’s school board election in November.
“Because I just came out of [school], the timing just felt right,” said Ahmed, who led three organizations in high school and maintained an A average at the University of Maryland at College Park last semester. “I think I can make the most impact because of what I just saw.”
Ahmed is running her first campaign for elected office. David Murray, 20, a former student member of the Maryland State Board of Education who narrowly lost two years ago to retiring county school board member Rosalind Johnson (District 1), is hoping to fill that open seat. And Edward Burroughs (District 8), who turned 20 on Saturday, an incumbent who also served two terms as a student board member, is running for reelection.
It is not unusual for a teenager to serve on the board of a small school system, experts say. But three board members younger than 21 in a system that serves 123,000 students would be rare.
Alexis Rice, a spokeswoman for the National School Boards Association, said a 2010 survey found that only 4.6 percent of school board members were younger than 40.
“I think it’s phenomenal,” Rice said of the young candidates’ involvement in Prince George’s.
But Nicole Nelson, vice president of the Parent Teacher Student Association Board at John Hanson Montessori School in Oxon Hill, is not so certain.
“A mix would be nice, but I can’t see having three young people leading the school district,” Nelson said. “I think experience does count when it comes to managing a $1.6 billion budget.”
Prince George’s board has nine regular members and one student member who is excluded from voting on many key issues.
If elected, the college students would take office at a critical time. The new board is expected to replace outgoing Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., who announced in July that he was leaving to take the schools chief position in Philadelphia. The board must also deal with dwindling enrollment, the lack of trust many parents have in public schools and the increase in the number of students from low-income families attending them.
“We bring a level of commitment, dedication and energy that many believe the school board has lacked,” said Burroughs, a junior at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. “I believe we’re willing to take on the tough issues.”
All three students were top vote-getters in the April primaries and are gearing up for the Nov. 6 election.
Powered by
The Post Most: LocalMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Local Features
Loading...
Comments