All four candidates in Montgomery County's contested Board of Education races will answer questions about school-based antisemitism at a forum Monday, Oct. 12, in Rockville.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) is hosting the event from 7 to 8:30 p.m. JCRC Chief Operating Officer Guila Franklin Siegel will moderate a discussion on antisemitism in schools and how Jewish culture and history are taught in the curriculum, according to the JCRC's event page. Registration is required by Thursday, Oct. 8. The forum will also be livestreamed.

The event follows weeks of pressure from Potomac-area Jewish leaders. Rabbi Adam Raskin of Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac was among more than 40 Montgomery County rabbis and cantors who signed a Sept. 28 letter to MCPS leadership. The clergy wrote that a lack of meaningful response from the district had increased the normalization of antisemitism, WTOP reported.

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) documented 600 hate-bias incidents during the 2025-26 school year, up 137% from 253 the prior year, according to Bethesda Magazine.

JCRC responded to more than 50 antisemitic instances in MCPS during 2025-26, double the number it received from similarly sized Fairfax County Public Schools, Siegel wrote in a Sept. 23 Bethesda Magazine op-ed. Of the more than 1,000 teachers JCRC trained last year to recognize antisemitism, only 2% were MCPS educators.

Superintendent Thomas Taylor responded to the rabbis' letter around Oct. 2, promising "repeat, collaborative dialogue," according to Bethesda Magazine. Siegel told Bethesda Magazine the pledge was not enough. "Jewish families do not have the luxury of waiting for an entire school year or even a semester," she said.

Who's running

Two races are contested. In the at-large race, Brenda M. Diaz, an MCPS teacher, faces Omar Lazo, a small business owner and father of three MCPS students. In the District 3 race, Sally McCarthy, an education research consultant who has served 15 years with the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, faces Cassandra "Cassi" Sung. All county voters may vote in both races.

In a candidate questionnaire published by Moderately Moco, each candidate named a top priority. Diaz called academic failure "a moral crisis hiding behind a budget debate," pointing to reading and math proficiency gaps among Black and Hispanic students. Lazo said restoring trust through transparent leadership and disciplined budget oversight was most important. McCarthy said the board's primary lever is scrutinizing how MCPS spends its money. Sung said proposed budget cuts to intervention specialists, mental health resources and English learner programs represent the most urgent issue.

None of the four candidates has made public statements specifically about the JCRC forum or antisemitism in schools.

Key dates

The voter registration deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 13. Early voting runs Oct. 22 through Oct. 29. Election Day is Nov. 3. The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County hosts a second candidate forum Wednesday, Oct. 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Montgomery Community Television studio in Rockville.