In just the last week, Republican Senator Justin Ready and woke Board of Education candidate Amanda Jozkowski made contrasting public remarks that perfectly capture what is at stake for Carroll County Public Schools come November’s Board of Education election.

While Ready has been calling on the State Department of Education to release concealed student test scores from last spring, so that parents can understand their children’s learning loss and mitigate it moving forward, Jozkowski took to declaring that one of her top priorities if elected would be to repeal Carroll’s Flag Neutrality Policy, which infamously disallows the flying of Pride Flags, while also applying to other political flags like the MAGA Flag, because she thinks the policy is, wait for it, “racist and homophobic”.

Jozkowski said as much on Tuesday while participating in a Board of Education Candidate Forum hosted by Carroll’s Student Government Association, where the candidates were asked questions submitted by students after making an opening statement.

Jozkowski used her opening statement to say that “ethics” should guide policy conversations, before describing how she wants to “lower the political temperature of our community” during this time of “national upset and global crisis”.

Then, when asked how to create a school system that is more “inclusive and equitable”, itself a bias question because the predicate assumption is that inclusivity and equity are agendas worthy of being pursued in the first place, she stated that her opinions should be exempt from being considered political, before finally sharing why repealing the Flag Neutrality Policy would be one of her top priorities:

“I think keeping discussions about diversity and equity, which are not political, out of the classroom doesn’t protect children from conflict”

She continued at more length, directing her message towards students:

“I hear you when you say that symbols, such as flags, not being allowed means that the school system has decided who is worthy of feeling safe and comfortable. I think it's inherently racist and homophobic to say that we shouldn’t allow symbols of celebration of these groups, and one of my first actions would be to immediately repeal the Flag policy and to revisit the Political Neutrality Policy””   

All of these things she said, mind you, while wearing a Progressive Flag pin on her jacket lapel.

The Progressive Flag, not to be confused with the suddenly antiquated Pride Flag, takes the Pride Flag and expands on it by adding in coloring and symbolism for transgenderism and marginalized LGBT communities of color.

But yeah nothing political to see here, move along.

That is how they would have it go. Jozkowski’s wild opinions are considered ethical and apolitical, but hold the opposite view and it must be because racism and homophobia and all the other bad things.

Contrast that now with Ready, who last week penned a letter to State Schools Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, alongside Delegates Rose, Krebs, and Shoemaker, requesting that math and reading test scores from last spring be released promptly so parents can know where their kids stand and get them back on track if need be.

In late August, the State released only the science test scores, suspiciously withholding the reading and math scores, leaving many to wonder just how bad the results might be.

The available science scores show that only 35% of Maryland’s eighth graders were “proficient” in the subject in 2022, a drop from 2019 when 37% were proficient.

Remarking on his letter, Ready joined WBAL Radio’s C4 and Bryan Nehman Show where his point of view was validated. C4 plainly confirmed that “the issue is that the scores are terrible”. Nehman agreed and vented his frustration, “as a parent, and as a taxpayer, I deserve to know what they [his kids] got on those tests”.

Ready concluded by summarizing: “we want to know what the data says, so we can take steps to address it”.

And so there in the span of a week, Ready and Jozkowski gave Carroll citizens a perfectly representative expression of where each of the two sides heads are at when it comes to the immediate future of Carroll County Public Schools.

On the one hand is an earnest effort at merit and achievement, and on the other is a headlong plunge even deeper into the wokestuffs and the unreason.