David Stein, a longtime math teacher at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, was elected this week as president of the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), according to the county teachers union.
Union members also elected Danillya Wilson as vice president, Dustin Jeter as secretary and Kember Kane as treasurer, according to an email statement from the union. MCEA, which represents more than 14,000 educators and is a powerful force in local politics, said a record number of members voted in the election but did not provide information on the number of votes cast.
Wilson is a first-grade teacher at Wheaton Woods Elementary School in Rockville, Jeter is a social studies teacher at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring and Kane teaches kindergarten at Westover Elementary School in Silver Spring, the union said.
Nikki Woodward, currently serving as the union’s vice president, was elected to serve a three-year term as the vice president of the Maryland State Education Association.
The new MCEA officers will serve for three years, with an option to run for a second term, the union said. Their terms begin July 1.
Stein, the current union treasurer, will replace President Jennifer Martin, who was elected in August 2021. Stein’s term begins July 1. He ran for president against two others: Laura Ellis, a media specialist at Wheaton High School, and Brandy Reazer, an alternative programs teacher at Northwood High School in Silver Spring.
According to a candidate profile, Stein has taught for Montgomery County Public Schools for 27 years and was a member of the last two union bargaining teams.
“If elected, I will be a president who understands the joys and tribulations of today’s educators,” Stein wrote in his profile. “We have great accomplishments, including the best contract in recent memory, but we have much more work to do. We need to continue to develop our collective voice to advocate for our needs.”
Stein did not respond Thursday to an email request for comment on his election.
According to the union, Martin will retire from MCPS when she completes her term on June 30 and then will continue with the union as a second vice president for one term. The second vice president is an advisory role to the president.
Before her presidency, Martin served as MCEA vice president for six years and worked as an MCPS educator for 20 years. According to an MCEA press release, Martin taught English at Thomas W. Pyle Middle School in Bethesda and Takoma Park Middle School and also taught at Gaithersburg High School, Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg and Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville.