Marcus Alzona Runs For Montgomery County Board Of Education District 3

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — It's primary election season in Maryland. Primary election day is Tuesday, July 19.

Residents can learn when, where and how to can vote by clicking here. Voters can see which districts they live in by using this tool. Visit this link to see who is running in each district.

Patch asked Montgomery County Board of Education candidates to complete a questionnaire outlining their priorities.

Montgomery County Board of Education District 3 candidate Marcus Alzona participated in our survey. Alzona's responses are posted below.

Name

Marcus Alzona

Campaign website

https://MarcusAlzona.com

City or town of residence

Bethesda

Office sought

Montgomery County Board of Education, District 3

Education

MCPS Head Start Program, First Graduating Class of the Montgomery County Math/Science/Computer Science Magnet Program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Master’s Degree in Information Networking from Carnegie Mellon University.

Occupation

Computer Scientist/Systems Engineer/Founder/Technologist, with over 30 years of experience in software engineering, computer networking, cybersecurity, IoT/sensor networks and mobile technologies, serving as a technology subject matter expert (SME) across over a dozen federal agencies.

Family

Child/grandchild/and spouse of immigrants. Proud parent of two MCPS students (classes of 2022 and 2024), husband of an MCPS teacher.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Spouse of an MCPS teacher

Age

50

Why are you seeking this office?

• Keeping schools open and safe.
• Having common sense voices for parents on the Board of Education.
• Proper and effective use of technology for STEM and curriculum transparency.

The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ___, and this is what I intend to do about it.

First and foremost, we need to keep our schools open and safe. No more reflexive school closures based on politics instead of data. Stop portraying police as a problem, and return to viewing the police as a partner in keeping our schools safe.

We need to better utilize technology to assist in the recovery. We can design our technology infrastructure to focus on in-person education, while also providing lessons and materials (including a replay of that day’s classroom instruction) for students and parents to review. This allows students the ability to review something that was unclear to them, allows for students who are absent due to illness (or COVID) to continue instruction while recovering, allows for parents to assist as needed, and provides the transparency many parents have been calling for over the past few years.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Starting in the summer of 2020, studies and data from across the country and across the world showed time and time again that schools could be safely reopened. Schools across the state, across the country, and across the world re-opened in the fall of 2020, yet nearly a year later MCPS was one of the last to do so. The county even tried to block Catholic schools from safely reopening, with Gov. Hogan having to step in to allow those schools to make their own choices.

The effect on our students was severe, hurting poor and minority children the most.

Montgomery County needs school board members that will push back on reflexive school closures not backed by the science. Electing the same people who advocated for endless countywide lockdowns in the 2020-2021 school year won’t help during any future situation. We need a better balance of members going forward. As the saying goes, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

Innovative approaches utilizing technology must be utilized to help with student learning loss, while simultaneously providing parents with curriculum transparency. There are many ways to accomplish these goals — we just need board members who understand the technologies and innovation — and who are willing to provide actual transparency.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

Last year, MCPS voted to strip funding for School Resource Officers - i.e. they voted to defund the police in Montgomery County Public Schools, putting our students at risk in order to virtue signal. Furthermore, this had a disproportionate negative impact on the poor and minority communities they purport to help, who deserve safe schools.

We must listen to our principals, who unanimously want School Resources Officers in MCPS schools. The board must stop portraying police as a problem, and return to viewing the police as a partner in keeping our schools safe.

Montgomery County needs school board members that will push back on efforts that put our children at risk. Electing the same people who just a few months ago advocated for keeping police officers off school grounds won’t help us get the right policies in place to keep our schools safe — we need a better balance of members going forward.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

With over 160,000 students and nearly 19,000 staff, Montgomery County Public Schools implements and manages the largest local information technology infrastructure in the entire state of Maryland. We need a board member that understands both the potential and the limitations of technology, who can provide proper guidance, oversight, and innovation for STEM education and school infrastructure.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Founder & Chief Technologist for keys, a science & technology small business focused on Innovation at the fusion of the Internet of Things (IoT), Cybersecurity, Geospatial & Open Standards, Mobile & Wearable Computing, Public Safety & Smart Cities, Connected & Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), and Unmanned Systems (UxS)/Drones. Formerly a Principal Investigator for IoT/Cyber/Geospatial/Unmanned Systems Research, Project Manager, Enterprise Architect, Systems & Software Engineer, and Mobile Developer in Noblis’ Center for National Security and Intelligence and Noblis’ Transportation & Telecommunications mission area. Involved in the operations and management of the Noblis Innovation and Collaboration Center (NICC) and Mobile Wireless Laboratory (mobile command center vehicle), and as a technical investigator for many corporate research activities conducted within those facilities. Primary client responsibilities included a variety of systems engineering, information technology and communication assessments and program management activities for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), and other departments. Over 30 years of experience in software engineering, computer networking, cybersecurity, IoT/sensor networks and mobile technologies — serving as a technology subject matter expert (SME) across over a dozen federal agencies.

As a computer scientist with years of networking, videography and livestreaming experience, when the pandemic started I quickly moved to assist multiple organizations during the initial months of the lockdown, volunteering as remote event/Livestream director for multiple non-profit organizations (education, student sports, religious, community), producing hundreds of livestreams and videos during the pandemic.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” - The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch, Carnegie Mellon University

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Our church was attacked and set on fire last weekend. That people believe that arson and violence are acceptable in public discourse is deeply disturbing, and a sad reflection on the state of affairs today.

Montgomery County needs to come together and have rational discourse about the future and direction of our community, including and especially within education. We need to have open, transparent discussions and debates on the decisions affecting our children, without the all-too-common reflexive demonization of those opposed to us on various policy issues or topics — of “the other.” We cannot live in these bubbles of our own construction — we need more diversity …of thought … on the board of education (be it me or others — just a balance). To best serve our children, the past two years have proven that the board must not be an echo chamber for any view.