First, of course, get registered if you aren't yet -- by tomorrow. Then think about your vote in this context -- Maryland needs fast action on decarbonizing the electrical grid and saving the Chesapeake Bay. And, f course, we need well-educated young people to take charge of the effort. Plus more, read on.

Esther Wells is running for Montgomery County Board of Education. She holds many harmful beliefs and affiliations that will make students less safe. NOTE: While she is running in District 1, everyone who votes in Montgomery County can vote in this race! This is just some of her record:

• During the primaries, Esther Wells ran on the New Dawn Slate with Michael Fryar and Dawn Iannaco-Hahn. New Dawn Slate members publicly stated their extremist views and opposition to masking and unions. 
• The New Dawn Slate has been endorsed by United Against Racism in Education (UARE), which is affiliated with the MoCo GOP, as well as Help Save Maryland, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified as an anti-immigrant hate group. 
• In one of her interviews with right-wing media, Wells affirmed the host’s anti-CRT rhetoric by insinuating that talking about race is the real racism.
• Wells signed onto an open letter opposing COVID-19 vaccines for children. 
• Wells does not stand up for LGBTQ+ students, even as discriminatory policies are systematically instituted nationwide. She repeatedly keeps her answers around protections for LGBTQ+ students vague. When a constituent expressed concerns about Wells purposefully misgendering people, she claimed the interaction was misrepresented. Instead of clarifying her views, she insulted the teachers union.
• Wells notes on her campaign website that she serves as “Chairman & President Trustee of the Board of a multi-million dollar non-profit in Gaithersburg.” She does not reveal that the non-profit states on its website that it “opposes all forms of sexual immorality, including…homosexuality.” 
• UARE, Clean Slate MoCo, and Moderately MoCo, which have all endorsed Wells, use divisive, dog-whistling rhetoric that further marginalizes the most vulnerable students. 

District 1 needs a Board of Education member who will advocate for Black, brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ students. Montgomery County needs leaders who will unite, not divide, our diverse community.

¹Screenshots of New Dawn Slate member’s social media: https://twitter.com/gunsensemelissa/status/1543935914988142593

²Tweet from a New Dawn Slate member:  https://twitter.com/Dawn_LCPC/status/1552151685220499456

³“A New Dawn” MoCo School Board Candidates. The Larry O’Connor Show, 4/27/2022, timestamp: 5:00-6:10.

⁴Montgomery County Republican Party site: https://www.mcgop.com/_united_against_racism_in_education_meeting 

⁵Tweet from Delegate Vaughn Stewart: https://twitter.com/DelegateStewart/status/1546525695635062786 

⁶Southern Poverty Legal Center: https://www.splcenter.org/states/maryland 

⁷“A New Dawn” MoCo School Board Candidates. The Larry O’Connor Show, 4/27/2022, timestamp: 12:40 to end.

⁸Urgency of Normal responds to recently released CDC recommendations for COVID19 mitigation in schools. 6/21/2022.

⁹Metro DC PFLAG Montgomery County District 1 BOE Candidate Questionnaire Answers. David Fishback’s Blog, 5/7/2022.

¹⁰Screenshot of Twitter exchange with Esther Wells: https://twitter.com/RebekahWriter/status/1568677678928232449 

¹¹Esther Wells’ campaign website:  https://voteforesther.com/about-esther

¹²Inter-Denominational Church of God’s Values & Beliefs webpage: https://icog.org/values-beliefs 

¹³Clean Slate MoCo and Moderately MoCo endorsements: https://cleanslatemoco.com/resources/, 

   https://moderatelymoco.com/last-day-to-vote-in-the-2022-montgomery-county-primary-election/

The Memo will be posted here after the email is sent

News you can use -- appearing on Tuesday after a holiday Monday

Yesterday, Indigenous People’s Day, we published a moving message on progress made, progress still to be made.

Today in the news, State Archives Launches Native American Research Tool: The Maryland State Archives launched a new website on Indigenous Peoples’ Day Monday that allows students, residents and visitors to research Native American tribes and events in Maryland history, we learn from The Capital Gazette.

Lots more below, on Marylanders' health, including that of the Bay, our schools and other pressing issues. So press "Read More"...

A message written by Bee Van Hall (they/them), Social Media Coordinator for Progressive Maryland.

In many ways it still seems as though our children are still just getting back to school after the pandemic shutdowns. It has often been that disruptive for students, their families -- and schools.

As Maryland moves into new stages of the ambitious Blueprint for school improvement, analyst Kalman Hettleman outlines what prospects and resources are on the way -- and who should, and should not, get extra responsibilities as a result. This opinion article appeared in Maryland Matters Oct. 7

We’re working hard on the general election, focusing on voter education and turn out efforts thanks to supporters like you. Electing Wes Moore as Governor, Brooke Lierman as Comptroller, and Anthony Brown as Attorney General will mean great things for our state. We’re calling it the New Era! This New Era can see big investments in our public schools, more support for teachers, school staff and public employees; bolder action on climate initiatives; steps taken to dismantle the racial disparities in our economy, and increased funds for health care services, including mental health and harm reduction programs. We’re also campaigning to pass Ballot Question 4 to legalize cannabis, which many other states have done with positive results and benefits. 

Remember to vote for every office on the ballot! Lawmakers at every level of government make decisions that affect our daily lives. With that in mind, we’ve had and will be having  numerous individual meetings with state legislators in order to build relationships and gain insights about the upcoming Maryland General Assembly. We need to hit the ground running in 2023! Having a strong showing during the coming weeks and on Election Day strengthens our hand in pushing a bold agenda in Annapolis and on the local level. What do we need? More folks to get more deeply involved in this grassroots movement! 

We also invite you to sign up for a Get Out the Vote shift this Thursday with our phone banking team. For those of you who want to take action in person, sign up for a door knocking shift on Saturday, Oct.15 with our canvassing team. 

Check out the other important events and actions you can take in the memo below. And you can always contact one of our organizers to learn more about our work. Thank you! 

It looks as though mail-in ballots will be counted ahead of time rather than only after the polls close -- so there won't be a space for the Dan Cox gremlins to spread falsehoods about results while counting is still grinding on. See below. Applying the schools Blueprint is getting plenty of reviews but is moving forward. And more, new laws took effect Oct. 1 that direct your attention while driving, who's working remotely etc. All this is in News You Can Use.

Shana Tova to all who celebrate! Autumn has arrived, too, and with it an opportunity to talk to voters throughout the state about the general election. We did that on Saturday, concentrating our outreach in neighborhoods in Prince George’s County during our Day of Action. Thanks to all who joined us, including our Task Force and Chapter leaders, our affiliated community and labor organizations, as well as our grassroots volunteers. Whether you knocked on doors, made phone calls, invited friends and family, or made a donation, we truly cannot thank you enough. On Saturday we did a combined 64 phone banking and door knocking shifts, and made attempts to reach more than 7,000 voters. We got a good response from the people we reached, recruited some new volunteers, and if folks weren’t home we were able to leave our new election lit at their doors. Check it out! 

We know there’s an enormous contrast between the agenda that the Republicans are pushing (restricting our healthcare, school budgets, and environmental protections) and what the Democrats are campaigning for (expanding healthcare, the pool of public school teachers and staff, and action on climate) but many voters, busy with their daily lives, may not. We have to be prepared that voters could get confused by the lies coming from the GOP candidate for governor, Dan Cox, and his campaign. It was reported last week that Cox plans to visit Mar-a-Lago soon to collect big checks from rich Trump donors (probably to pay for misleading ads). 

We can’t leave anything to chance: doing one-to-one outreach, sharing a vision with folks, and having a real conversation is still the best way to connect with potential voters and engage them in the democratic process.

So please join us! This Thursday, Sept. 29th, we’ll be making calls. Sign up here! 

You can also kick off the month of October this Saturday by knocking on doors. This is a great opportunity for those who missed out on our last Day of Action: Sign up here! 

A Montgomery County circuit court judge sided with the state Board of Elections on Friday, ruling that Maryland elections officials may process and count mail-in ballots as they come in. In granting the election board’s petition, Chief Administrative Judge James Bonifant accepted their argument that the expected deluge of mail-in ballots would result in a weeks-long delay before results could be tabulated." GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox had filed in opposition to the B of E's plea.

And early hints of the next General Assembly -- During a Greater Washington Board of Trade forum recently, Senate President Bill Ferguson identified mental health, transportation and workforce development as likely priorities for the legislature. He also said the new wave of state leaders need to pay careful attention to the learning and social deficits created by the pandemic [as recovery from the pandemic stays on the front burner]. Obstacles children faced during the pandemic are part of a broader set of mental health challenges families encountered, the lawmaker said. He expressed optimism that “high-value tutoring” and other elements of the state’s new educational “Blueprint” initiative will help overcome them. Ferguson also noted that efforts to close the digital divide have been slow to bear fruit. Most funds allocated to expand high-speed internet to underserved communities have not been spent, he noted. Assembly House Speaker Adrienne  Jones said the crisis highlighted the need to expand access to care. She also called for more coordination between state and local governments. “Right at the beginning, sometimes, the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing,” she said.

Read about these and other bits of News You Can Use for this week...