Montgomery Fix Interview: Brenda Diaz, At-Large Board of Education Candidate

Montgomery Fix only dedicates interview space to political figures we find genuinely interesting, sometimes because of their policy platform, sometimes because of their persona. We find Brenda Diaz intriguing for both reasons.

An at-large candidate for the Montgomery County Board of Education, Diaz is arguably the most controversial and polarizing figure in local education politics today. We agreed to interview her, but on our terms. This isn't a timid candidate questionnaire. We designed questions to be blunt and challenging, putting her past actions, policy stances, and political associations under a direct spotlight.

We extend our sincere thanks to Ms. Diaz for stepping up to tackle these tough questions and providing candid answers. We encourage you to read how she responds to the scrutiny, in her own words.

Question 1

You operate Heart of Joy Learning and have chosen homeschooling cooperatives rather than MCPS for your own children. What have you learned from choosing an educational model outside MCPS that you believe the public school system should adopt, and what aspects of MCPS do you believe your own children would be better served by?

I founded Heart of Joy Learning after the debacle of zoom school and mask mandates had stolen something precious from our children — the freedom to learn, to play, and to be children again. Heart of Joy Learning is now closed, but that experience confirmed something I already knew as a teacher: children cannot thrive when a school system prioritizes compliance over joy.

What I witnessed working directly with families during that time showed what the research confirms. Children need independent, unstructured outdoor play every single day. A 2024 scoping review in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education found recess develops social-emotional skills, improves classroom behavior, and supports academic achievement. NIH research confirms direct contact with nature improves cognitive, affective, and moral development. That is why I will push for 40 minutes of daily unstructured outdoor play in every MCPS elementary school. School gardens at every school teach children nutrition, responsibility, and how to care for their bodies.

I confirmed that involved parents transform outcomes. A 2024 meta-analysis found parental involvement positively influences academic performance and increases the probability of high school graduation. Field trips matter too — students who visited art museums showed significant gains in critical thinking and historical empathy. That is why I want to make field trips easier for MCPS children. All of these things listed are what my youngest child needed.

Heart of Joy Learning taught me that quality and genuine choice within rigorous academic standards is better than uniformity. Families need options. Montgomery County's diversity demands knowledge-rich environments our children deserve — Montessori, classical, dual-language, project-based. Let's provide that for them.

Question 2

Your platform calls for greater use of physical textbooks, whole books, explicit phonics and traditional math instruction while reducing reliance on digital tools and Chromebooks. How would you ensure students still develop the technological skills they will need in college and the workforce, and what role should digital technology continue to play in the classroom?

Students will develop the technological skills they need — that is what children do naturally. Every generation adapts to and then invents the technology of their time. The children who will build the tools of 2040 do not need a Chromebook in kindergarten. They need to learn how to read, how to write, and how to reason mathematically. Those are the skills that make technological adaptation possible.

However, limited exposure in school is important. Scheduling time in the media center, as was done effectively before the Chromebook era, gives students structured, purposeful access to technology. Building up school, classroom, and home libraries develops information literacy in a way passive Chromebook use never has. Technology should be tied to specific learning outcomes in daily lesson plans, not handed to every student as a default delivery mechanism from kindergarten onward.

Furthermore, the evidence supports this approach. The MCCPTA Technology Committee survey of over 1,000 parents and teachers found the overwhelming majority believe Chromebooks are overused and misused. As Karen Vaites documents, Louisiana and Tennessee achieved dramatic reading gains using low-tech, knowledge-rich curriculum. She describes most first-generation EdTech as "well-marketed garbage."

Thankfully, Board member Julie Yang's screen time audit resolution requires MCPS to report by March 2027 on opportunities to reduce screen time. MCPS spent $19.5 million on Chromebooks in a single recent year. Phasing out one-to-one devices at the elementary and middle school level saves $6-13 million annually — money that should fund teacher professional development grounded in the science of learning.

Question 3

You have spoken at Moms for Liberty events and criticized COVID-era public-health mandates. Critics argue that those activities reflect national conservative politics more than the traditionally nonpartisan role of a local school board member. What, specifically, distinguishes your educational agenda from the national conservative movement, and where do you disagree with that movement on education policy?

Let me first correct the premise. I did not speak at Moms for Liberty events. During my 2024 candidacy, I asked a question at one event and attended a separate meet-and-greet. I attend meetings held by Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike because if you have something to say about MCPS, I want to hear it. That is the essence of nonpartisan governance. I am not affiliated with Moms for Liberty, have never been a member, and have never been endorsed by them. As such, the MCDCC claim that I am a Moms for Liberty candidate is categorically false.

My agenda was built from more than 25 years of direct experience in preK–12 education—as a teacher, administrator, coach, tutor, and curriculum writer—not from a national political movement. I have worked with children from preschool through Advanced Placement and have seen education from multiple perspectives, even serving as a building representative for the teachers' union. Those experiences shaped my priorities: knowledge-rich curriculum, strong literacy and mathematics instruction, safe classrooms, fiscal accountability, meaningful parent engagement, and closing achievement gaps.

Where I disagree with elements of the national conservative movement, I oppose defunding public schools, removing books based simply on political or ideological disagreement, and targeting LGBTQ+ students. I do not currently hold a position on school vouchers or eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.

I am running for the Montgomery County Board of Education to solve Montgomery County's education problems. I will listen to anyone with something constructive to contribute—left, right, or center—and remain independent enough to disagree with any organization when I believe it is wrong.

Question 4

Which specific Moms for Liberty education policies do you support bringing to MCPS, and are there any positions advocated by the organization that you do not support?

Where our positions overlap, I support parental notification and opt-out rights when constitutionally required. But those are not uniquely Moms for Liberty positions. In Mahmoud v. Taylor, Muslim organizations, Catholic groups, Orthodox Jewish communities, and others advocated for religious-liberty protections, and the Supreme Court ultimately recognized parents' right to notification and a genuine opportunity to opt out when instructional materials substantially burden their religious exercise.

I also support high academic standards and fiscal accountability. Again, those principles belong to no political organization. They should be expectations of every public school system.

Where I differ is equally important. I oppose removing books from classrooms and libraries simply because someone finds their ideas objectionable. I have an extensive personal library at home—children's books, magazines, novels, short stories, and nonfiction covering everything from education and history to the Renaissance and the Constitution. I believe deeply in reading and in exposing children to rich literature and ideas. Parents should have appropriate authority to make decisions about what their own children read, not dictate what every other family's child may read.

I also oppose targeting LGBTQ+ students and using parental rights as a political weapon. Parental rights should protect the relationship between parents and their own children, not become a mechanism for controlling other families.

My standard is straightforward: Is a policy lawful, evidence-based, educationally sound, and good for Montgomery County students? I don't care whether the idea originated on the political left or the political right.

Question 5

You have made compliance with the MCPS Student Code of Conduct a central part of your campaign, while your departure from Gaithersburg High School followed your refusal to comply with district health requirements. How do you reconcile your emphasis on strict compliance with your own decision to refuse a district requirement on grounds of personal conviction?

The premise requires a correction. Before the school year began, I requested a religious exemption from the mask mandate through proper legal channels. MCPS denied it without grounds. I was placed on unpaid leave. While on leave, I filed for a medical exemption. MCPS denied that as well. The EEOC found sufficient basis to proceed, a federal determination that my religious rights had merit. I then resigned in July 2022.

I did not just defy a rule. I acted as an employee who exhausted every available legal remedy while a government institution violated my constitutional rights. I stood on principle at personal cost, lost income, and filed a federal complaint. Despite all of that, I showed up twice to run for the Board as a powerful show of commitment to Montgomery County children out of pure conviction in my belief in the importance of public education, a lesson of civics in action.

There is a categorical difference between what I experienced and what I ask of students. The Student Code of Conduct governs behavioral standards, safety, and respect, not religious conviction or medical necessity. A student who disrupts a classroom is not exercising a constitutional right. They are denying every other student their right to learn.

I believe in the rule of law. And I believe that when an institution violates your natural born, constitutional rights, you have the right and obligation to challenge it. That principle is embedded in our Declaration of Independence. As a government teacher, I respect, adhere to, and practice the founding principles of our nation.

Question 6

You have criticized the Board for reducing public business meetings from 24 to 12 per year and for approving large consent agendas without line-item debate. If elected, what specific dollar threshold would you establish for requiring individual Board discussion or approval of a procurement item, and how would you manage the additional workload without delaying other essential Board functions?

The threshold already exists in Maryland law: $25,000. The county OIG confirmed MCPS violated it through contract splitting and that MCPS lacks any system to aggregate vendor payments, making the practice invisible. The fix is a directive to the MCPS Division of Financial Management, what the OIG recommended in Report #26-08 and what Taylor promised by December 2025 but never delivered. I will motion to direct staff to build that tracking system. No CPA required. The technology exists. What has been missing, and what I will bring, is the will.

The consent agenda enables exactly this kind of failure. On March 26, 2026, the Board approved a $375,000 promotional swag contract without discussion, on the same day it voted to relocate Wootton and cut 415 student-facing positions. That is just one example of what rubber-stamping costs. The Parents Coalition has documented many more.

In addition, any board member can bring a motion to review or void an unauthorized contract. I will do exactly that from day one — starting with the legal services contract Board President Rivera-Oven signed on January 22, 2026, in direct defiance of an OIG finding. It must be addressed.

Finally, the Board has nine members. Reviewing significant expenditures is nine people's shared responsibility, not one person's burden. Board members receive written briefings in advance of every meeting. With 24 meetings per year, the workload is entirely manageable. Merriam Webster defines stewardship as "the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." That is our fiduciary duty. I will move to restore 24 business meetings per year — that requires a majority, and I will build that coalition.

Oversight is not the burden. It is the expectation and our job.

Question 7

You have proposed reducing central-office overhead and administrative redundancies to help address MCPS's deteriorating facilities. Those reductions might yield tens of millions, but the superintendent reports the current backlog is $3 billion of deferred maintenance across its 211 active schools and 240 managed facilities. Given the scale of the district's deferred maintenance needs, what specific capital-funding mechanisms or Capital Improvements Program priorities would you support, and what would you be willing to cut or delay to pay for them?

The Central Office cuts and procurement reforms I would like to see can yield $25-50 million annually. Unfortunately, that is nowhere near enough to close a $3 billion backlog. No board member should pretend one lever closes that gap. What a board member can do is stop making it worse, prioritize with discipline, and fight for every available dollar.

Every capital dollar must be justified against the backlog before going anywhere else. Health, safety, and HVAC failures come first. No new synthetic turf fields while classrooms reach 85 degrees. That is the triage standard I will hold every CIP decision to.

But triage only works if we stop bleeding dollars that belong in buildings. For example, the warehouse lease costs $245,000 a month for an unusable building. The Board approved $700,000 in promotional swag while cutting 415 student-facing positions. An independent MCPS Inspector General, my first governance priority, would recover dollars currently invisible to the Board that belong in classrooms, not bureaucracy.

Solving this crisis requires collaboration beyond the Board. As an elected official I will work with County Council members and the County Executive to pursue every available funding mechanism — Maryland's Nancy K. Kopp Public School Facilities Priority Fund, federal infrastructure dollars, bond capacity, and public-private partnerships. The $3 billion backlog is a county-wide crisis. Good governance means every elected body working together through public accounting, not pointing fingers.

The backlog happened as a result of years of deferred decisions and an MCEA-endorsed Board that rubber-stamped budgets without accountability. I am running to end that, together with you.

Question 8

You strongly criticized the Board's decision to relocate Wootton High School to Crown Farm, arguing that neighborhood schools are community anchors. At the same time, MCPS is confronting changing enrollment patterns and questions about building utilization. What is your alternative for dealing with underutilized schools and facilities while controlling capital and operating costs? Under what circumstances, if any, would you support closing, consolidating or relocating a school?

I opposed the Wootton relocation because it violated three principles I will hold every major facilities decision to: enrollment projections must be verified, community engagement must be genuine, and procedural protections must be followed. As Elisa Chen Sukhobok documented in Montgomery Perspective, Maryland committed nearly $100 million toward Crown based on projections now disputed, and communities should not need lawyers to determine whether removing their school counts as closing it.

My alternative starts with honest accounting. A 2025 Texas Christian University study found closure savings are routinely offset by hidden costs. The Pew Charitable Trusts found net operating savings are typically under $1 million because districts must continue paying security, maintenance, and insurance on empty buildings. Before MCPS closes a school on fiscal grounds, it must demonstrate savings are real, not projections that evaporate once hidden costs are counted.

Better alternatives exist. In the Bronx, P.S. 55 in Claremont Village has co-located with Success Academy Bronx 2 for years, a nationally recognized model for how two schools can share one building without closing anything. Underutilized wings can become health clinics, adult education centers, or pre-K programs. Surplus space can be leased to nonprofits serving the same families. MCPS should explore every one of these models before closing a single school.

Under what circumstances would I support a closure? When savings are independently verified; when enrollment data is current; when a neighborhood impact analysis is complete; and when a genuine 90-day community engagement process has been followed.

Question 9

You have called for an audit and review of MCPS's K-3 social studies curriculum. If a professional review concludes that the instructional materials comply with Maryland's learning standards, would you still support removing them because of their organizational origins or ideological associations? If so, what specific deficiencies would justify replacing them?

The premise requires a correction. I did not call for removing materials based on organizational origins. My position, stated clearly in my 2024 Moderately MOCO questionnaire, is that K-3 social studies should focus on early American history and civics grounded in primary sources and foundational knowledge.

That said, compliance with Maryland's learning standards is a floor, not a ceiling. Standards tell us what topics to cover. They do not tell us whether the curriculum is ideologically neutral, historically accurate, or pedagogically sound. A curriculum can technically comply with standards while still reflecting a particular ideological lens — whether progressive organizations like the Zinn Education Project or conservative ones like PragerU or Hillsdale. Elementary school curriculum should not center on solely one ideological perspective.

What I want is curriculum grounded in primary sources, historical evidence, and the kind of knowledge-rich instruction that research on student achievement supports. When students learn about colonial life, the American Revolution, and the deliberation required to write the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, they build a common cultural foundation. Unity thrives in our diverse county when students share a deep appreciation of our founding principles.

The deficiency that would justify replacing materials is not their organizational origin. It is whether they prioritize ideology over evidence, and political narrative over historical truth. Montgomery County children deserve curriculum that teaches them to think, not what to think.

Question 10

In your Substack essay "Letter of the Law Applied Produces Transparency Overwhelm," you criticized MCPS's implementation of parental notification frameworks following Mahmoud v. Taylor. If MCPS were to grant broad religious opt-outs across all grade levels for materials parents consider objectionable, how should teachers manage multiple instructional pathways simultaneously without diminishing instructional quality for the class?

Let me be clear about what I am not saying. I am not arguing against LGBTQ+ inclusive content in MCPS classrooms. I am arguing against a specific implementation that the Supreme Court found unconstitutional and that MCPS's own principals found harmful before it ever went into effect.

The question also assumes a broader framework than Mahmoud v. Taylor requires. The Court ruled 6-3 that parents must be notified and given a genuine opportunity to opt out of materials that burden their religious exercise. That is targeted and specific — not a blanket opt-out for any material any parent objects to.

MCPS's own principals documented why the original implementation failed — not because of opt-outs, but because teachers were untrained, content was age-inappropriate, and classroom discussion guides instructed teachers to counter students' religious beliefs. Their formal memorandum raised eight specific concerns. MCPS ignored every one. As I documented in my Substack, Taylor could have avoided the Supreme Court entirely by simply working with parents. He chose not to.

The current Refrigerator Curriculum is a step toward compliance, but as my Substack makes clear, it is style over substance. Genuine implementation means advance notice families can act on, real opt-out options with equivalent alternative assignments, and no scripted countering of students' religious beliefs. Teachers already manage differentiated instruction daily. The question was never whether it is manageable. It is whether MCPS has the will to do it honestly.

Question 11

You have made restoration of dedicated School Resource Officers in middle and high schools a central safety priority. What specific policies would you put in place to prevent SRO involvement from turning routine student discipline into criminal enforcement, and how would you monitor whether racial or other disparities in arrests or referrals are occurring?

The concern embedded in this question is legitimate and I share it. The problem was never School Resource Officers (SROs) — it was the absence of clear boundaries governing what SROs are and are not authorized to do. Properly governed SROs build relationships, respond to genuine safety threats, and leave routine discipline entirely to teachers and administrators. Improperly governed SROs become disciplinarians; the model thereby determining the outcome. Thankfully, our Montgomery County Council has on record what a properly governed SRO looks like — Officer Lowery's work at Quince Orchard High School.

The policies I would put in place are specific. First, discontinue the Community Engagement Officer program and replace it with properly trained, properly governed SROs. Second, establish a new MOU between MCPS and MCPD defining SRO roles precisely — weapons, violence, and drug offenses fall within SRO jurisdiction; dress code violations, classroom disruptions, and student conflicts do not. Third, mandatory NASRO training for every SRO. Fourth, mandatory public reporting on every arrest, referral, and use of force by each SRO, broken down by school, grade level, race, gender, and disability status, with annual Board review in open session.

On racial disparities: MCPS already has one of the lowest suspension rates in Maryland — 1.4% versus the statewide average of 4.7%. The data infrastructure I am proposing would make any emerging disparity visible before it becomes a pattern. A board that can see the data in real time can act on it.

Question 12

Much of your campaign focuses on changing what MCPS does. But the Board has limited authority over the school system's budget, state education requirements, and day-to-day administration. What is one major policy change you believe you could realistically accomplish during your first year on the Board, and what is one campaign promise that would require cooperation from others and therefore might not be achievable on your preferred timeline?

The one change I am confident I can accomplish in my first year is ending the rubber-stamp consent agenda for significant expenditures and pushing for an independent MCPS Inspector General.

Ending the consent agenda rubber-stamp requires only a board member willing to pull items for discussion and demand recorded votes on expenditures above the $25,000 threshold state law requires. I do not need a majority. I need a board seat and the willingness to use it. Every dollar rubber-stamped without scrutiny is a dollar not going to curriculum, teacher training, or failing HVAC systems. Fiscal accountability and academic excellence are not separate issues. You cannot deliver one without the other.

A Teachers' Bill of Rights is more necessary than it appears. Since the SRO program was eliminated, teachers have been left without adequate behavioral support. A 2024 RAND study found 52% of teachers cite student behavior as their primary stressor. When teachers feel safe and supported, students do too. The Board can incorporate Teachers' Bill of Rights language into the next MCEA contract, replacing the restorative justice language in Section F, and update the Culture of Respect compact. Alabama's Act 2024-409 and Louisiana's RS 17:416.18 — the only two states to surpass pre-pandemic scores — provide the framework. Neither requires the Maryland General Assembly.

Pushing for an independent OIG and zero-based budgeting requires Board consensus, superintendent cooperation, and community coalition-building.

I will advocate for all of these. Honesty about what a board member can and cannot do is a form of accountability.

Question 13

Finally, if you are elected, you will represent families who strongly agree with you, families who strongly disagree with you, and a large number who may not have strong political views at all. What do you worry those voters in the latter two groups will misunderstand about you or your agenda, and what would you want them to know before they decide whether to support you?

What I worry skeptical voters will misunderstand is this: they will see the controversies and miss what drove me here in the first place.

I ran for this Board twice because I genuinely believe our public schools are failing children. Not because of lack of funding. Not because of lack of caring people. But because children are not getting the actual opportunities to learn and grow, to be in environments that care for them — and when I say care for them, I mean providing the actual tools they need through academic excellence. Whole books. Rigorous curriculum. Safe classrooms. Teachers who are supported.

I know what it means to be a child whose future depended on institutions stepping up. A gifted and talented program, Prep for Prep, and parents who cared deeply gave me a path from the Bronx to Georgetown. I have tutored teenage immigrant mothers in Government and History so they could graduate from MCPS while raising their children. I have taken children to creeks and farms because I believe learning happens through wonder. I have never stopped studying as a James Madison Fellow, NEH workshop participant, and master's graduate of George Washington University.

That is who I am. An educator. Not a culture warrior, not a political operative — someone who cannot watch children be failed by institutions that are supposed to serve them. That is why I pledge to be the independent voice of parents, students, and teachers on the Montgomery County Board of Education. Unbought and unbossed.