SECTION 4: FOR ADMINISTRATORS

Resources for principals and assistant principals who want to lead with evidence, restore order, and advocate for students and teachers.

Restore Order & Discipline in Your Building

The Fordham Institute’s practical guide for school leaders on supporting classroom discipline makes clear that administrators set the conditions for either functional or failing classrooms. Key principles: be visibly present in hallways every day; back teachers up consistently so students know expectations are real; and ensure consequences are administered by teachers — not always escalated to the office. Alabama and Louisiana’s Teachers’ Bill of Rights laws, which restored order and gave both states the only post-pandemic academic gains in the country, are the model. Advocate for MCPS to follow suit.

Simplify the Environment — Less Clutter, More Focus

A Carnegie Mellon University study found that students in heavily decorated classrooms scored only 42% on lesson content — versus 55% in simpler rooms. Walk your buildings with fresh eyes: support teachers in paring down wall displays to only what’s tied to current instruction. A calm, purposeful environment is a leadership decision that costs nothing and pays dividends in focus and learning.

Advance Evidence-Based Curriculum & Instruction

Follow Karen Vaites’ Substack for literacy and curriculum research grounded in the Science of Reading and Southern Surge best practices. Review Freedom in Education’s knowledge-rich curriculum recommendations. Push for whole books and textbooks — especially in math — so parents can follow along at home. Prioritize field trips for every grade; immersive learning is irreplaceable.

Prioritize Infrastructure & Safety

Advocate urgently for capital investment in your building. Mold, collapsing ceilings, and failing plumbing are not inconveniences — they are safety failures that rob students of instructional time and teachers of their dignity. Document every deferred maintenance issue and bring it to the Board with data. Continue advocating for the return of dedicated School Resource Officers — as your fellow MCPS principals formally requested in December 2020.

Know Your Legal & Policy Rights

Consult the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty for model policies supporting parental rights in curriculum and opt-out decisions. Review the 2025-26 MCPS Student Code of Conduct and enforce it with consistency and equity across your building — every student, every teacher, every time.

Expand Recess & Outdoor Time

Research consistently shows that recess improves attention, behavior, and academic performance — especially in elementary school. Protect and expand recess time for all grades. Pair it with outdoor learning opportunities whenever possible. A child who moves and breathes fresh air learns better. This is not enrichment — it is brain science.

SECTION 5: FOR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS & CANDIDATES

Resources grounded in governance research, academic excellence frameworks, and Maryland-specific board law.

School Boards for Academic Excellence (SBAE)

School Boards for Academic Excellence (SBAE) is the national organization Brenda most closely aligns with. Founded in 2023, SBAE is a network of state-based school board organizations dedicated to a single mission: restore academic excellence and parental rights in the American education system. Their values statement puts it plainly — the academic achievement of students is too important to allow misguided ideologies and vested interests to stand in the way of reform. School board members must pursue proven-effective solutions without apology.

SBAE’s Five Pillars — directly aligned with Brenda’s platform:

• Building your network — connecting reform-minded board members nationally
• Access to model school board policies — ready-to-use policy templates grounded in academic excellence
• Help getting legal advice — support for board members who challenge the status quo
• Communications & public relations support — tools for engaging parents and the public
• Tools to foster academic achievement — research, analysis, and best practices

Their research library covers everything relevant to MCPS’s failures: academic failure, curriculum quality, budgeting and productivity, safety and discipline, parental rights, and governance. Start here.

SBAE Research Priorities — Directly Relevant to MCPS

• On academic failure: The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Double Jeopardy study documents how third-grade reading proficiency directly predicts high school graduation — the same finding that makes MCPS’s 54.9% Grade 3 reading rate a crisis, not a statistic.
• On curriculum: The Aspen Institute found that improving curriculum quality has up to 40 times the impact on student learning compared to reducing class sizes — meaning MCPS’s $3.78 billion budget is being allocated to the wrong priorities. The New Teacher Project’s Opportunity Myth research documents how below-grade-level classwork traps students in cycles of underachievement.
• On budgeting: Research from Reason Foundation documents how increased K-12 spending has not produced corresponding gains in student outcomes — a direct rebuke to the argument that MCPS’s problems are a funding issue.
• On safety & discipline: AEI research in SBAE’s library critiques restorative justice policies for undermining teacher authority and creating unsafe classrooms — exactly what the MCPS Board has doubled down on.

The Key Work of School Boards (NSBA Framework)

The National School Boards Association’s Key Work of School Boards is the standard governance framework identifying five core action areas that distinguish high-performing boards from rubber-stamping ones. Every item maps directly to what the current MCPS Board is failing to do — and what Brenda will do instead.

• Vision — Effective boards establish a shared community vision for student achievement and hold the line on it. The current MCPS Board has no coherent academic vision — only deference to union priorities. Brenda will center the Board’s vision on literacy, safety, teacher excellence, fiscal accountability, and parental engagement.
• Accountability — Effective boards are accountability-driven, spending less time on operational detail and more on results. MCPS: 22% pass Algebra I. 54.9% Grade 3 reading. $3.78 billion spent. Brenda will demand performance metrics tied to every budget dollar.
• Policy — Policy is how boards sustainably exercise power to serve students. The current Board moved from 24 to 12 annual business meetings and pushed millions through consent agendas without debate. Brenda will restore open deliberation.
• Community Leadership — Effective boards act as ambassadors for community values before making irreversible decisions. The MCPS Board proceeded with Wootton’s relocation over the objections of parents, local leaders, and the MCCPTA. Brenda will make community leadership real — not performative.
• Relationships — Effective boards build honest, collaborative relationships with the superintendent and community while maintaining clear governance boundaries. Brenda will ask hard questions, demand data, and hold leadership to account — while never crossing into micromanagement.

Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE)

MABE is the statewide association for Maryland’s 24 boards of education, providing professional development, governance training, legal resources, and legislative advocacy. Their 2024 Legislative Positions & Priorities include support for local board governance authority, local curriculum control, school safety funding, and student discipline standards — all aligned with Brenda’s platform. Every new board member should complete MABE’s governance training. MABE also provides training on Maryland’s Open Meetings Act — the law the current MCPS Board is effectively circumventing by collapsing public business into consent agendas.

What Academic Excellence Governance Looks Like in Practice

High-performing boards — as documented by both SBAE and the NSBA Key Work framework — share consistent hallmarks. For academic excellence specifically:

• Academic performance appears on every board meeting agenda
• The board sets clear, measurable student achievement goals — tied to real data, not adjusted benchmarks
• Curriculum decisions are grounded in the Science of Reading and evidence-based math instruction — not vendor relationships or ideological preferences
• Budget allocations are tied to student outcomes — with performance metrics required before renewal
• Teachers are treated as content experts and supported — not managed by ideology
• Parents are genuine partners — informed, consulted, and heard before decisions are made

The current MCPS Board does none of these things consistently. Brenda has read the research. She knows what excellence in governance looks like — and she will bring it on day one.