Montgomery County School Board Member Connie Froggatt (District F) announced she will not be seeking reelection in this November’s election.
Froggatt told her fellow school board members this week she would be not be running for the the school board position and would be stepping down from her board position with the Montgomery County Educational Foundation.
Froggatt was first elected to the school board in 2016 and has been serving on the MCEF board for seven and a half years most of that time serving as president.
Froggatt said,
“I had considered one to two terms but not to go beyond that. I am a supporter of term limits,” Froggatt said.
She cited timing as her motive for stepping down.
“This is a good time to step down. I have reached the peak of what I can do for this division. There are other opportunities and I would like to explore them. I will remain invested in public education, since I will continue to live in this community. What happens with students is still important to me.”
Froggatt said she will continue be an advocate for public education at the local and state levels.
“There are ways that I can contribute to public education beyond the school board,” she said. “It’s time to pass the torch as an elected school board representative to other folks who are younger, have children in MCPS and can possibly know more about what is going in the schools.”
Froggatt encouraged and now “endorses whole-heartedly” the candidacy of Sofia Zhang Midkiff who announced her candidacy the day after the school board meeting.
“I am announcing my plans to run for the Montgomery County School Board representing District F vacated by Connie Froggatt,” Midkiff said in a press release. District F includes north central Montgomery and includes a portion of the Town of Blacksburg.
Midkiff’s background includes work at IBM Business Consulting and as an adjunct professor at the Virginia Tech Pamplin Business School. Her undergraduate study was completed at the Stockholm University and she received a Masters of Business Administration from Emory University.
“Montgomery County is one of the best school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” her announcement said, “thanks to our extraordinary leaders, teachers and staff, our excellent students, and very supportive parents.“
Midkiff cites unstable school funding and uncompetitive teacher pay as areas of particular concern to her as a candidate.
“Too often, school funding is the first to be cut when the county has financial shortfalls, but is the last to recover when finances improve,” the release said. “In some cases, funding never recovers. As a result, some good programs are not properly funded.”
Midkiff is currently a board member of the Blacksburg Chinese School and the Haymarket Square Homeowners Association, and has served on a number of committees including the Gifted Advisory Committee and the Blacksburg Newcomers Club.
