New SMOB Begins Term as Student Voice on Montgomery County Board
- Aug 1
- 3 min read
Updated: 7 minutes ago
(8/1/2026) | Sloane Berk
Leul Dawit, a rising junior at Northwood High School, was formally installed as Montgomery County Public Schools’ 49th Student Member of the Board (SMOB) on July 6. His one-year term, which began July 1, will make him the student voice on the Board of Education for the 2026-2027 school year.
Dawit was elected by MCPS students in April after receiving 64 percent of the 58,424 votes cast. He succeeded Anuva Maloo, a graduating senior from Montgomery Blair High School who served as SMOB during the 2025-2026 school year.
As SMOB, Dawit represents the interests and perspectives of more than 155,000 students across the county. Unlike student representatives in many school districts, the MCPS SMOB is a voting member of the Board. The SMOB can vote on issues including collective bargaining, capital and operating budgets, school closings and reopenings, and school boundaries. The position cannot vote on negative personnel actions.
“Student engagement is essential to building a stronger educational system,” Dawit said in an MCPS announcement following his installation. “I am dedicated to fostering meaningful connections with students throughout Montgomery County, ensuring their voices remain central to Board deliberations and policy decisions.”
Dawit’s platform for the upcoming school year focuses on improving communication between students and school system leadership, improving school infrastructure and student services, expanding student mental health and well-being initiatives and promoting equitable access to educational opportunities across Montgomery County.
The SMOB position has a history dating back nearly five decades. The first Student Member of the Board, David Naimon of Northwood High School, served during the 1978-1979 school year. Since then, the position has developed into one of the most powerful student leadership roles in the country.
Kurt Hirsch, who served as SMOB during the 1982-1983 school year, was the first Student Member to be directly elected by students. The role’s voting authority has also expanded over time. In 2016, Maryland legislation granted the SMOB full voting rights on several major categories of Board decisions, including budgets, collective bargaining and school boundaries.
The position has also created a network of former student leaders who continue their work in education, government and civic life after graduating from MCPS. Hana O’Looney-Goto, who served as the 44th SMOB during the 2021-2022 school year, recently reflected on her experience in a LinkedIn post about her senior thesis at Harvard University.
“Finally, thank you to Montgomery County Public Schools: the system that first convinced me that diversity is a daily practice,” O’Looney-Goto wrote. “In its classrooms, I learned that the American experiment, at its best, is lived in public schools. This thesis is dedicated to you.”
O’Looney-Goto’s reflection highlights how the SMOB position not only leaves a lasting impact on their school system, but the candidate themself. While the SMOB serves for only one school year, the position provides students the opportunity to directly participate in decisions that affect the entirety of MCPS.
For Dawit, the upcoming year will bring the opportunity to represent students during discussions on major district policies, while also gathering perspectives from students across MCPS. As the 49th SMOB, he joins a long line of student representatives who have helped bring student perspectives directly into the Board of Education.
The position’s nearly 50-year history reflects the continued role students have in shaping their school system. Dawit will continue this tradition as he works to make student voices central to the decisions affecting schools throughout Montgomery County. Sources:
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