Maryland Forward Party

We had the pleasure of collaborating and hosting our inaugural Town Hall PEP Talk with Fitzgerald Mofor, our Forward-Affiliated Candidate for Montgomery County Board of Education.

Town Hall PEP Talk

Residents from Montgomery County highlighted their key concerns, and together, deliberated on the order of priority for addressing these issues. Using the PEP Talk method devised by Pete Olivier-Krueger, head of Maryland Forward Party's Priorities and Policies Committee, to facilitate debate and consensus building, attendees were asked to write down several problems that they think the Montgomery County Public School System was facing. The central element of a PEP Talk is for the people to write out and articulate the problems, rather than propose potential solutions.

This approach is crucial because for candidates like Fitzgerald Mofor, and others, to collaboratively arrive at solutions, it is important that people are aligned with a common understanding of the problems and the prioritized order in which they can be addressed. It also provided Mofor with valuable insights into the concerns of his constituents, enabling him to refine or create solutions tailored to address the highlighted problems of the county as expressed by the people. 

A few of the problems that were brought and debated were:

• - "the literacy rate of elementary students are too low."
• - "there's a lack of social and emotional education."
• - "student safety and the lack of enforcement."
• - "shortage of teachers is a chronic situation."

As the town hall session concluded, the consensus emerged and pinpointed that the shortage of teachers was the top priority issue that needed to be addressed promptly within the Montgomery County Public School Systems.

Interview with Mofor

A few weeks prior to the town hall PEP Talk, Matt Hines, a Board Member At-Large with the Maryland Forward Party, met with Mofor to discuss various problems occurring within the Montgomery County Public School System. Mofor answered questions regarding topics of

• - educational disparities and inequality, despite Montgomery County being one of the most diverse counties in the nation
• - his top priorities for students
• - strategies for hiring and retaining quality teachers
• - measuring the success of policies and initiatives
• - building partnerships with local businesses, community organizers to enhance overall educational experience for students
• - addressing youth violence and juvenile crimes
• - what he wants his role to be among the board of education
• - why he was attracted to the Forward Party
• - how to better educate students regarding civic engagement

Stay tuned, as the full interview will soon be uploaded to the Maryland Forward Party YouTube channel.