A conversation with the 46th SMOB finalists

By Sachini Adikari and Amen Lemiesa Staff Writers

On April 19, MCPS middle and high school students voted for the 46th Student Member of the Board (SMOB). The two finalists were Richard Montgomery junior Sami Saeed and Springbrook junior Yoseph Zerihun. At the Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association’s nominating convention on Feb. 15, student delegates from around the county voted for the final two.

Voting was held through an online ballot during the school day, and Blair students were given time during innovation period to vote.

Background and experience

Saeed is currently the Student Government Association (SGA) President at Richard Montgomery, where he represents over 2,400 students. He is a part of current SMOB Arvin Kim’s Advisory Cabinet and aids Kim in exploring student concerns and planning potential policy goals. Saeed is also an intern for Board of Education

At-Large member Lynne Harris and is a member of the Montgomery County Commission of Youth and Children, which is a volunteer group composed of 27 youth, parents, and child-serving professionals.

Once we put [qualifications] on people and say ‘if you’re not a part of [student government] organizations, you can’t be SMOB,’ we’re losing a lot of student voices.

According to Saeed, the commission has made him a more active community member. “[The commision has] taught me to work with the county and see county regulations and work with not only youth commissioners but even adult commissioners,” he said in an interview with Silver Chips.

Zerihun is currently a language coordinator for Springbrook’s SGA, where he aims to ensure equity for all SGA-related events at Springbrook. “I’ve [taken] a step away from the executive positions [in SGA] and [focused more on] ensuring the equity of everything that SGA does,” he said in an interview with Silver Chips. He is a member of the Springbrook debate and mock trial teams and plays both golf and baseball at Springbrook. During his years at Redland Middle School, Zerihun served as a student ambassador in the SGA and was a liaison for the Montgomery County Junior Council, the county-wide middle school student government association.

When asked if a SMOB should have prior involvement in student government, the two candidates expressed different opinions. Saeed said that a SMOB should have experience in order to be an efficient one. “[A SMOB’s] goal is not to create policy, but to oversee it… [With experience,] you have more time to create change rather than learn how to create change,” he said.

On the other hand, Zerihun believes that looking for multi-

Zerihun highlights the lack of mental health resources for students in the county, using his school Springbrook as an example. He hopes to be able to create a countywide mental health plan that implements a regimen similar that student-to-SMOB communication is vital. When asked how they would garner this communication, both said that they would bring back the monthly SMOB Minute, where the SMOB shares what they have accomplished each month.

Drug use around the county

Both finalists claimed that they would prioritize addressing drug-related issues as SMOB.

epidemic] and to really devote their weeks, months to just finding the issues, finding the problems, and finding the solutions that are new and creative that can ensure the safety of MCPS schools,” he said.

tudes of experience in student government results in a pool of candidates unrepresentative of the county. “There shouldn’t be qualifications,” he said. Once we put [qualifications] on people and say ‘if you’re not a part of [student government] organizations, you can’t be SMOB,’ we’re losing a lot of student voices,” he said.

Policies

Saeed has ten focuses that he groups into essential and innovative policies. His five essentials are mental health, school safety, the opportunity gap, environmental advocacy, and student representation, while his five innovative policies include information access, workload relief, curriculum reform, infrastructure renovations, and transportation equity.

Saeed’s priority goals are homework-free weekends, wellness days, and varied school lunches, which is something he has already worked for at his high school. “Right now, I’m doing a student taste-testing event at [Richard Montgomery HS]... I want students to be able to eat diverse types of school lunches—vegan, halal, kosher—and really enjoy meals.”

He also hopes to open student government to downcounty and Northeast Consortium students. “I want to take advocacy from something that belongs to a small group of students to something that anyone can do, anyone can participate in… my goal is to not speak for the Downcounty Consortium and Northeast Consortium, but [to] give them the opportunities to speak for themselves.” to the 2020–2021 virtual school year, where Wednesdays served as check-in days. “[At Springbrook,] we have these [Wellness] Wednesdays [that] remain inconsistent… [During these days,] half the period is dedicated to just community building… and the other half is meant for relearning and reteach-

Saeed plans to expand access to resources such as social workers and rehabilitation programs to MCPS students and emphasizes that students with substance abuse problems should not be worried about suffering consequences, but rather treating the mental health issue that is substance abuse.

“[When it comes to school safety] I’m always focused on really implementing more restorative justice… [Substance abuse] is a mental health issue, not a disciplinary issue… so when students are using drugs, let’s give them opportunities to go to a rehabilitation center or

According to Patricia Kapunan, MCPS Medical Officer, MCPS already works with experts and local government authorities. “The Office of the School System Medical Officer is working closely with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and other community partners within the Montgomery Goes Purple initiative to develop community-wide efforts in prevention, harm reduction, and treatment,” she wrote in a December 2022 message to the county.

My goal is to not speak for the Downcounty Consortium and Northeast Consortium, but [to] give them the opportunities to speak for themselves.

Zerihun also mentioned the county’s efforts to make Narcan, a nasal spray used to treat narcotic overdoses, available in schools and hopes to expand access, citing an instance when Narcan was not readily available. “We don’t have [Narcan] on all three levels of [Springbrook High School],” he said. “Equal distribution [of Narcan] amongst all levels… [is necessary] to ensure that you can just run quickly, get it, and use it right away if necessary.”

MCR to SMOB Pipeline

ing with one-on-one time with teachers,” Zerihun said.

Additionally, like previous SMOBs, Zerihun hopes to address the opportunity gap for ESOL students and students with disabilities by creating a more inclusive learning environment. Zerihun said that conversations with students in ESOL programs have shown him a separation in school culture between ESOL students and non-ESOL students. “I’ve been in contact with many students [who] don’t speak English, and they’ve been in the ESOL program for seven, eight, nine years,” he said. “With ESOL, I [want to] promote a full inclusion curriculum in which [students will be] immersed with the English language.”

Both Saeed and Zerihun believe speak with social workers and talk to that student, not get them in trouble because that is the wrong approach.”

Saeed also believed that MCPS should more rigorously survey students in order to gauge the severity of the drug use issue more accurately. “All students should be required to fill out a [anonymous] survey about how often they use drugs, where, and when. [Survey data] will be reported back to the Board of Education… [and] they could see the statistics about how bad the problem is.”

Zerihun plans to combat the opioid epidemic by instituting a professional task force that will work toward identifying the problems and creating new solutions. “I want professionals to evaluate [the

Saeed said he understands the privilege he has had when it comes to student government and hopes to end the disparities DCC and NEC students face. Saeed’s goal is to utilize the opportunities he has as a Richard Montgomery student to make the county more equitable for students in the downcounty and Northeastern Consortiums. He explained that he is currently working on establishing student member quotas to prevent over-representation in MCR. “By putting limits, you’ll ensure that you’re not getting 20 to 30 students from Richard Montgomery and two from Einstein,” he said.

Zerihun describes a “pipeline” from which SMOB candidates pass through Richard Montgomery and Montgomery County Regional SGA, arguing that the concentration of candidates from “feeder organizations” must stop to diversify the pool of SMOB candidates. “It is really a big issue where seven out of the nine SMOB finalists have been from Richard Montgomery,” he said. “Pipelines like these need to be ended to ensure that each year our SMOB has a new diverse perspective that they bring to the table.”

On April 19 at 5:30 p.m., MCPS announced that Sami Saeed was elected as the 46th SMOB serving for the 2023–2024 school year.