Noble wants to represent parents, make school board more accessible
Jul. 3—Editor's note: The Frederick News-Post is profiling candidates for various public offices in Frederick County leading up to the July 19 primary elections. Each school board profile will include an audio recording of the full interview.
Tiffany Noble said she would try to represent parents and make the work of the Frederick County Board of Education more accessible if she were elected to it.
A Monrovia-based accountant with three children in Frederick County Public Schools, Noble said she began following the school board — and getting frustrated with its policies — during the pandemic.
"It started with the masks," she said.
Noble is active with the Frederick County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national organization that describes itself as "dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights."
Members of the group, including Noble, were outspoken against mask mandates and school closures.
Noble has aligned herself with candidates Heather Fletcher, April Montgomery and Ashley Nieves. The four are self-described conservatives and are campaigning together, but they're not an official slate — a legal term meaning candidates are raising and spending money as a group.
Though her political views are clear in her platform, Noble said she was trying to appeal to a broad swath of voters. School board races in Maryland are officially nonpartisan.
"While I consider myself conservative, I'm not just here for Republicans," Noble said.
If elected, Noble said she would work to increase transparency on the board and make members more available to the public. She said the board should meet more than twice per month and should consider holding monthly or quarterly town halls to talk with constituents.
During the public comment portion of regular school board meetings, board members generally don't respond to questions.
"We are elected by the people," Noble said. "We should be able to interact with the people."
Like others in the race, Noble said teachers should be required to post all of their lesson plans and curriculum resources online for parents to view. She also said she would advocate for recording all of the board's committee meetings.
Noble was a vocal opponent of new state health curriculum guidelines that describe when and how elementary schoolers should learn about sexual orientation and gender identity. She has said the framework would lead to "over-sexualized material" and put children in danger of being groomed.
She said she would fight to increase wages for FCPS teachers, who are typically paid less than educators in neighboring counties. Her stepmother was able to earn $25,000 more as a teacher in Montgomery County than she would have made in Frederick County, Noble said.
"We're not keeping the good people here," Noble said. "Besides the big people like the superintendent, [nobody] is being compensated like they should be."
She said she was "not up to date" on challenges in the district's special education programs and would "work with people who actually know what they're talking about in that field" if elected.
Noble said her accounting background would be an asset on the school board, which is responsible for passing FCPS' budget each year. She has teachers on both sides of her family, she added, and can empathize with their concerns.
She said having children currently enrolled in the district also qualifies her for the role.
"I have that view of what parents need and what they're looking for," she said.
The other candidates in the school board race are: Nancy Allen, Olivia Angolia, Liz Barrett, Ysela Bravo, David Brooks, Rae Gallagher, Mark Joannides, Rayna Remondini, Cindy Rose, Dean Rose, Justi Thomas and Karen Yoho.
Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek
