Patricia O'Neill, the current vice president of the Board of Education, was elected president of the Board for a one-year term. Kermit V. Burnett was chosen as vice president for a one-year term. The election occurred during the Board's regularly scheduled business meeting on Tuesday, December 14, 1999.

Mrs. O'Neill was elected to the Board of Education in 1998 as a representative of District Three and is a member of the Long-Range and Strategic Planning Subcommittee. She is a resident of Bethesda and has served as co-PTSA president at Walt Whitman High School and PTA president at both Thomas Pyle Middle School and Burning Tree Elementary School. She is a founding member of the Walt Whitman Cluster "Pillars of Ethics Program" and has served on numerous advisory committees for education-related issues.

Mrs. O'Neill is a graduate of Walter Johnson High School and received a bachelor of arts degree from Southern Methodist University. She is married and has a daughter who attends Burning Tree Elementary School and a daughter who graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 1999.

Mr. Burnett was appointed by the Board of Education in December 1998 to fill the term of the vacant District 4 seat. He serves on the Board's Long-Range and Strategic Planning Subcommittee.

Mr. Burnett has been an active volunteer for the Montgomery County Public Schools. His leadership roles include coordinator for the John F. Kennedy Cluster and membership on the Board of Education's Technology Usage Advisory Committee. Mr. Burnett has chaired the Parent Advisory Council for Title I. He also has been co-PTA president of John F. Kennedy High School and is a member of the African American Parent and Community Education Consortium.

Mr. Burnett has a bachelor's degree in education from Howard University and a master's degree in management from Webster University. He is the parent of a son who is a ninth grade student at John F. Kennedy High School and a daughter who is a graduate of John F. Kennedy.