Howard County School Board Election 2024: Meet Jen Mallo

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Residents will vote this fall to elect new members of the Howard County Board of Education. Patch invited each candidate running for a seat on the school board to complete a questionnaire about their campaign priorities, their views and themselves. Below you'll find the unedited, verbatim responses from Jen Mallo, candidate for HCPSS Board of Education District 4.

Early voting runs from Oct. 24 through Oct. 31 and Election Day is Nov. 5. More information about voting locations, registration, mail-in ballots and dropbox ballots is posted here.

The Howard County Board of Education consists of seven members elected to four-year terms. Five members are elected by district and two members are elected at large. Here are the people who filed for candidacy with the State Board of Elections for the Howard County Board of Education.

District 1
Andre Gao, Ellicott City
Meg Ricks, Ellicott City

District 2
Larry Doyle, Columbia
Antonia Watts, Elkridge

District 3
Jolene Mosley, Columbia

District 4
Julie Kaplan, Fulton
Jen Mallo, Columbia

District 5
Andrea Chamblee, Clarksville
Trent Kittleman, West Friendship

What is your name? Jen Mallo

What position are you running for? Howard County Board of Education Member, District 4

What ways can people contact you with questions? The easiest way to contact me is via email: jenmallo4boe@gmail.com

Campaign website? https://votejenmallo.com

Age as of election day? 55

Place of residence? Columbia, MD

Family members? I am married with three adult children

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? Not other than myself

Education?

Certificate in Education Finance, Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy
MA, East Asian Studies, George Washington University
BA, Economics and East Asian Studies, Wittenberg University

Occupation? Howard County Board of Education, Member, and Chairperson

Previously held elected or appointed political positions?

● Member, Chairperson, Howard County Board of Education
● Chairperson, Legislative Committee, Maryland Association of Boards of Education
● Member, Howard County Adequate Public Facilities Task Force
● Member, Howard County Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Committee
● Member, Howard County Spending Affordability Committee
● Director, Legal Services Administration, Maryland Association of Boards of Education
● Member, Blueprint Ad hoc Committee, Maryland Association of Boards of Education
● Member, Chairperson, Policy Committee, Howard County Board of Education
● Member, Legislative Committee, Howard County Board of Education
● Member, Audit Committee, Howard County Board of Education

Why are you running for office? I am running for the Howard County Board of Education because I believe in the mission and goals of public education and can make a positive contribution to that mission. As an adult, I have been a lifelong public servant—starting with me with the Department of Defense as a civilian analyst, through years of volunteering in support of education, to my six years serving on the Board of Education. I have been able to make real, measurable change that has improved the lives and outcomes for thousands of students.

My knowledge base includes an advanced certificate in Education Finance from Georgetown University, a MA in East Asian Studies, a BA in Economics and East Asian Studies, training in data analytics, as well as work in early childhood education, literacy, and reading acquisition.
My work has led to strong functional relationships with every elected official in Howard County both at the county and state level. These relationships are key to navigate the difficult challenges in county and state funding, local and state legislation, as well as fostering positive interactions within these partnerships.

In summary, I am running because I can make our education system better for all children in Howard County schools.

What are your top 3 priorities?

(1) Work with our community, educators and students to have cell phones out of the classrooms so that our students can focus and learn. This will require innovative solutions to the safety concerns that many cite as a reason for students to have their phones with them.
(2) Ensure that our students who receive special education services are supported and educated appropriately.
(3) Fully implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future because it is the right thing to do for children and it will have real, meaningful change like paying teachers a competitive, professional wage, expanding preK, providing a full array of support service to children in need, and preparing students for the workforce, college, and the community.

What do you believe is the most important issue facing the school board? The most pressing issue of the next four years will be recovery from the pandemic. This is complex because its effect was felt by students, families, and educators—personally and operationally. Identifying how students suffered and determining how to make up the gaps will be the underlying driver for our education system in the near term.

An additional complication arising in part from the pandemic was the thinning of the employment pool for educators and other employees. There are simply not enough educators available for hire, and universities are not producing sufficient qualified graduates to meet the demand. I will work on developing an array of incentives to retain educators. This could include financial incentives for working in high-needs schools, working in special education classrooms, and becoming a Nationally Board Certified Teacher (NBCT).

We also need to work with our county funding partners for student loan forgiveness, affordable housing set asides for educators, and other innovations. Human Resources will also need to widen the recruing pool outside of the local area to include Historically Black Colleges and Universities with robust teacher training programs.

Another area where we will begin to feel the lasting impact is financially with the drying up of the pandemic relief funds. Federal relief funds were able to supplement our budget for technology, tutoring, summer programming pay raises, enhanced localized ventilation units (portable HEPA units), and some capital projects. Absent new revenue streams, the HCPSS will be hard pressed to absorb continued costs into our operating budget.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post? I have experience, knowledge, background, and time available to do the job, as well as demonstrated capabilities that my opponent does not have. I would like our county and state to increase funding revenue to HCPSS so that we can afford to pay our teachers a professional wage, pay all of our employees a living wage, and expand pre-K. I fully support our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs like diversifying our workforce so that our educators mirror our student body. We know that student outcomes are profoundly stronger when they have at least one teacher who looks like them. I believe that we should keep and continue to add diverse and inclusive literature in our media centers for students to select and read, not remove books because Moms For Liberty and other extremists accuse them of being pornography or Critical Race Theory when books tell of the stories of racism, violence, or injustice suffered by people of color and people who are LGBTQ.

I have nearly 30 years of experience working in education and advocacy—from preschool through adult education—unlike my opponent. This background provides me with a broad base of knowledge about how to improve students’ literacy, increase graduation rates, and make decisions in the best interest of children and their learning.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)? I am an incumbent and have learned a great deal during my six years on the Board—some in response to failures and others in response to successes. I am proud that we have learned lessons from our bus debacle in the fall of 2023 and were able to correct many errors, have a smooth start to transportation in the 2024-2025 school year, as well as increase accountability measures in contracting since I have become Chair of the Board of Education. I am also thrilled that the Board voted to shrink walk zones to provide more access to transportation for our students beginning next year and fix that prior error.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

How will you handle LGBTQ+ and racial issues brought before the school board? Our schools need to be safe, welcoming places for all students. In order to do that, we need to accept and affirm our LGBTQ+ students and staff. We also need to recognize that our students do experience racism in their lives and their learning. I believe that we need to teach about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, Asian hate, and other discrimination in real and honest ways. If we do not teach our history, then we are doomed to repeat it. These are not issues from which to shy away or to be whitewashed as a Board member, but instead to be addressed directly, accurately, and with compassion for those who experience hatred, bias, or trauma.

How will you handle book-banning issues brought before the school board? The Board of Education must not capitulate to extremism by banning or censoring books that are age appropriate and serve the best interest of children by expanding their world or allow themselves to be seen. The Board of Education must be committed to providing inclusive, affirming, and accurate books to students in all media centers.

I place great confidence in our professional media center staff. Books that are not age appropriate generally do not enter the libraries in the first place. Subject matter experts (school media specialists, librarians, educators) should be trusted to approve appropriate material for placement in libraries. In the case where books are challenged, it is the subject matter experts whose opinion I value since they have been trained in determining age appropriateness and appropriate content for inclusion given their knowledge of the curriculum and educational standards.

Further, a diverse and inclusive set of library books are critical to have in our schools. We need to actively work to include these materials despite extremist fear mongering and demands for removal. I support the inclusion of books that are LGBTQ affirming, historically accurate, and do not whitewash racism, sexism, violence, misogyny, and discrimination.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions? I love working in service of students and educators. Whether you label it as a calling or an occupation, I have spent the majority of my adult life trying to make our education system beer for children. I would like the opportunity to continue that work as your elected Board member in District 4.