(9/27) Election Day is quickly approaching! Hopefully, you have formulated your voting plan because your vote is your voice. Your voice matters now more than ever especially since all three seats up for election on the Frederick County Board of Education will go first time election winners.

If you were one of the 23,368 voters who cast a vote for me in the primary election, thank you. I was humbled to win the primary by a strong margin and even more humbled to learn that I received the most votes ever cast for a Frederick County Board of Education candidate in a primary.

At my core, I am a teacher. Teaching has been my vocation for more than 20 years. I have had the privilege of teaching over 3,000 students at Frederick Community College as a professor of computer and information science since 1997.

Besides extensive teaching experience, I have a broad and unique range of skills that are particularly beneficial to the Board of Education during a pandemic, including:

• A strong background in distance learning. My doctoral research was on measuring quality in distance learning. I have taught online and hybrid classes for 20+ years.
   
• A strong background in public safety. I am a Firefighter/EMT with over a decade of operational experience with two Frederick County volunteer fire companies. I serve on FCC’s Crisis Management Team. I helped write the "return to play" plan for a local youth baseball/softball organization and have been responsible for ensuring success of that plan as the Safety Officer and a board member for the league. We have been playing ball since mid-July and have received district-wide recognition for our COVID-19 prevention plan and mitigation efforts.
   
• Mother of an FCPS third grader. Who better to help craft education policies than someone most impacted by them? I see, on a daily basis, the efforts made by teachers to help ensure our students have a quality remote learning experience but am as anxious as they are to have a plan in place that enables our students, teachers, and staff to safely return to school.
   
• Extensive business experience. Prior to pursuing a teaching career, I worked as a management and IT consultant for companies including Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture), Lotus Development, and IBM. Much of this experience was overseas in Europe so I am familiar with educational systems of other countries.
   
• Close ties to our agricultural community. My husband and I own and operate an income-producing crop and livestock farm. Our son is in 4-H and just participated in the first virtual 4-H livestock auction at the Great Frederick Fair.
   
• Legislative Experience. I successfully worked with my local delegate to propose a change in the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act. I testified at hearings in Annapolis and ultimately received strong bi-partisan support for the bill. This bill, which addressed protection for adults under guardianship, was one of the few pieces of legislation passed in the shortened 2020 Maryland Legislative Session and became law on October 1, 2020.
   
• Strong support for my candidacy. I was one of 17 candidates who applied for a vacant seat on the Board of Education in November 2019. I was one of six candidates invited for an interview by the Frederick County Council and one of three finalists sent forward to the County Executive. I am the only candidate now running who received strong bi-partisan support during this process, including votes from all Frederick Council Members Michael Blue – District 5, Kai Hagan – At Large, Phil Dacey – At Large.

I bring a strong work ethic along with my commitment to excellence in education. I helped establish the groundwork for the now highly popular and regarded FCC/FCPS dual enrollment program. More recently, I was on the team that wrote a bid for a National Science Foundation grant that led to an award of over $600,000 to help bring underserved students into FCC STEM programs and ensure their success.

I attribute the strong bi-partisan support I have received to my deep experience in education within Frederick County, my extensive background in serving the public, my willingness to listen to and work with others, and my results-oriented drive and determination.

You can visit www.sue4boe.com to learn more about my background and platform. Thank you for reading this. I hope you consider me when casting your ballot. If elected, I will do my best to ensure we have excellence in education.