India Ochs

I am a native Annapolitian, product of Head Start and our public s hooks, and now parent of a 5th grader at the same elementary school I went to. I bring in-depth knowledge and experience at the local, national, and international level advocating for educational and youth issues with a background in law and policy, collaborating with human rights activists in over 20 counties on issues ranging from child labor to human trafficking to clean water, partnering with experts in over 100 counties nationwide on juvenile detention reform, and 30+ years public speaking and educating diverse audiences including teaching high school law. I also bring extensive oversight, financial responsibility, and management experience as a compliance officer, establishing a nonprofit from scratch, and president of six Board of Directors including two-term PTA President. Ultimately, I bring the unique perspective seeing both the brilliance and inequity in the AACPS system as a student, parent, and advocate, and I will help you be heard - and if you can't speak up, I will speak up for you.

• Equity isn't just a slogan. It should transform the way we educate kids. We must engage with the community to create a sense of system- and community-urgency to aggressively do "whatever it takes" for every student to achieve success in school.
• Equity isn't just a slogan. It should transform the way we educate kids. We must engage with the community to create a sense of system- and community-urgency to aggressively do "whatever it takes" for every student to achieve success in school.
• My promises as a school board member are no different than the promises I made 35 years ago, to always follow through on my word, and to not just be a voice for the people, but make sure everyone finds their voice and is heard, which is especially critical for all the diverse families of district 6.

In a sense I am passionate about everything because whether it's related to our kids, teachers, facilities, finances, staff benefits, etc. it's all interwoven and impacts each other. This is especially true on the issue of equity, which must be addressed in every area within AACPS in order to provide safe and high quality education for all our kids. If you look at my advocacy record the last 30+ years, you will also quickly find deep passions in supporting our kids in foster care, students with disabilities, reforming the juvenile detention system including eliminating the cradle to prison pipeline, ensuring basic human rights for all (including eliminating hate and biased incidents), mental health, supporting our teachers both financially and mentally, healthy school start times, safe transportation, and supporting our young leaders. Transparency and open communication with the public is also key throughout this. At the end of the day, it comes down to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of students and staff.

The core responsibilities are simple: do your job, never lie, listen to and respect our kids, teachers, staff and community, make every decision based on the best interest of our kids, take responsibility for your own actions/decisions as a school board member and hold both the superintendent and fellow Board members accountable for their actions. Trust is so essential in life, but especially as someone elected to the Board of Education, students, parents, and teachers are counting on us to simply do the right thing, and we have to live up to that trust we seek to develop with everyone. I know I have gotten multiple emails from parents saying they not only want me to win but that their child with a disability is counting on me to be there for them, which just reinforces my belief to always be there for people, no matter what.

My first job was with the Anne Arundel County Library Eastport branch at age 14. That job has stayed with me ever since because, even though in some ways it was the worse job I ever had, it taught me important lessons in job positions and reinforced the work ethic I already had within me. I grew up going to that library virtually every week since I can remember, checking out as many books as I could carry. When given the opportunity, I quickly signed up as a volunteer at age 13, and couldn't have been happier doing everything from sorting through books for removal to creating display materials to cleaning up the shelves. Then when I turned 14, the official age to work, they offered me a part-time job and I immediately said yes. This is where learning about job positions/verifying the duties comes into play. Given there was no discussion of my job when they offered it to me once I turned 14, I had thought I would just be doing much of the same work I did as a volunteer. On day one, I learned that not only was my job duty shelving books, but since I was now a paid employee, I was restricted to only that duty per my job description. From then on, I knew never to take anything for granted and always verify exactly what the job duties would be before accepting any job offer. And in all honestly, I hated every second of shelving books knowing that was the only thing I was allowed to do. I could have walked away, after all I was only 14 making the minimum wage, I had enough food at home, and I wasn't under a binding contract. Yet I stayed exactly a year because in my mind, even if I didn't have a commitment on paper, I still had one in my heart. Once I commit to something, I put in 100%. And so, to me I felt I had made a commitment once I accepted the job offer, and I was not going to walk away simply because I didn't like the work. Staff was counting on me to do my job and that is exactly what I did - and I felt a year was sufficient to live up to that commitmen.

That's a tough one because I love books, especially sports biographies and the classics. Yet I will say "Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy" which is a combination of quotes by Robert F Kennedy and quotes he saved from others, is the most resounding and why I have given copies to over 60 friends since it came out. Anyone that knows me, reads my writings, or hears me speak, knows I always have been obsessed with quotes from an early age, so I really connected to another person who collected just as many quotes in his lifetime as I did. But of equal value are the quotes themselves - it's an easy read even if you just look at one quote at a time, but there is so much weight and meaning behind each one, whether it's about education, government, law, leadership, courage, suffering & tragedy, family, community, or youth.

It would be negligent to say my speech disability hasn't been a struggle in life, but much of that is based on society and it never has stopped me from pursuing anything I wanted - and achieving it. Specifically, not being able to talk clearly limited me at times from being able to fully communicate, especially early on when the technology was not there to match my intellect. And I had to face discrimination along the way, whether it was being placed in the lower academic group in 4th grade because the other teacher did not want me in her class, or going on over 160 in-person interviews throughout my life because people didn't want to take a risk with my disability even though my resume was stellar enough to get an in-person interview. Or simply dealing with fast food workers who couldn't read English and refused to serve me. Yet none of that stopped me from writing my first letter to the editor at age 5 (same age I decided to be an attorney), singing in the school chorus or taking drama and debate, testifying at the Maryland State House and United Nations, lecturing around the world, being PTA president, holding the line as a defender on my soccer team, or just being that cool mom that played with my son's friends when he asked me to join in. I may have a speech disability, but that never stopped me from being heard nor limited my self confidence- which are traits I spent my lifetime encouraging in others.

My action points for equity go back to my key message of engaging with the community to create a sense of system- and community-urgency to aggressively do "whatever it takes" for every student to achieve success in school. This includes addressing the disciplinary practices in schools that disproportionately affect our students of color or with disabilities. We also need to strengthen our curriculum and school activities, throughout the year, to reflect our diverse student population, so it's not just a handful of unity days or Black history month, but incorporated within every part of school, so our kids learn about both the heroes and the victims in history, related to people of color and other minorities, all the while doing math or science or reading a book, or learning about art. And especially in this area so full of history, our kids have to understand about the local history like the mass immigration of Filipinos to support the navy in WWII and how they were treated in Annapolis, or why Thurgood Marshall was much more than a Supreme Court justice, or why 665 is named after Dr. Aris T. Allen. We also need to increase access to English as a Second Language instruction and make every thing AACPS provides to families is translated into Spanish (plus it's federal law!) And even though AACPS updated its policies on bullying and biased behavior earlier this year, we have to make sure they are properly enforced. And finally, but a huge priority, is implementing mechanisms to monitor all students to assess, report, and communicate their academic performance, along with having publicly accessible monthly statics of the demographics behind student discipline referrals, citations, and arrests. If we don't know what is going on, we won't be able to actually address the areas that need support.

Yes it's very important to intentionally recruit to diversity AACPS's staff. I always talk how, even if we are doing everything right, if it is not working, then it is not enough, and we need to do more. And that is especially relevant with teachers of color, because if you ask AACPS staff, they not only say they are doing everything right and that they are seeing increases, but again, it does not matter how great they are doing, if we still are not getting the amount of teachers, or staff, of color, that we truly need. And that is why we need to keep finding new ways to recruit, hire, and retain teachers and school administrators of color, until we finally get to the place where our kids are properly represented by adults that look like them and talk like them. But I have to say, every one can talk about wanting to get more teachers or staff of color, but no one actually goes more in depth in talking about what happens after we do hire staff of color, and one of the biggest issues I want to make sure happens is that policies are in place, and enforced, to ensure teachers of color are appropriately placed in all subjects and all grades levels, and provided leadership opportunities. I have been pushing people to watch the documentary, America to Me, about a very huge and diverse school in the suburbs of Chicago, and has so many messages about equity, and students of color, but one of the biggest take aways was seeing how teachers of color were treated, with many being segregated to positions like special education, or not being promoted to heads of departments or given the opportunity to teach classes like AP History, because too many white parents pulled their kids out of those classes if taught by a teacher of color. While we don't have specific statistics to show those kinds of discriminatory practices are happening in AACPS, all I have to do is look at my son's school and see that the only staff of color are in special education or supporting roles.

The reality is, I have always believed real learning takes place outside of the classroom, whether its hands on doing manual work, or reading books you care about, or just interacting with other human beings. I am not trying to take anything away from our lessons or especially our teachers, because yes, there is basic information we all need to learn, and much of the time we can only learn it in a classroom, but I know for me, it was always the extra things my teacher gave me to do that stayed as important memories, that really motivated me. And that is why I fully believe we need to stop with all the stress about going to college, unless you want to do that, and give our kids opportunities to learn about the things they want to do in life, and not just in places like the CAT centers, but have those classes embedded in all our schools. But what might be of even more value is, we need to partner with the local community so our kids can work or do internships in the very places they want to eventually work in as a career, whether that is a local repair shop, a computer service company, an advertising agency, a restaurant, or a solar panel company. Not to mention, by getting the experience during high school, it will also help them be more prepared later if they have to take a special class at the community college or trade school, to keep up with the latest technology or changes in the profession. I also am in full support of changing some of our course requirements so that all our kids actually are, in fact, ready for the real world, such as requiring a class on finances so they understand things like bank accounts, car loans, and housing agreements.