Eric Guerci, a junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, has been reelected as the Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB) for the 2016-2017 school year. Mr. Guerci is the third student in MCPS history to run for, and win, a second term.

All secondary school students were eligible to vote in the SMOB election, and 84.1 percent cast ballots. Mr. Guerci received 54 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Alexander Abrosimov, a sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School, received 46 percent.

Mr. Guerci will begin his second term as the 39th Student Member of the Board on July 1, 2016. He has been active in student government for several years and previously served as the vice president for the Montgomery County Regional (MCR) Student Government Association (SGA). He also served as the MCR SGA Finance Committee Chair; senior policy advisor to the SMOB Advisory Council; and is the cofounder and executive vice president of Montgomery County Student and Business Leaders for Education, which promotes public/private partnerships to improve education. 

The SMOB is a voting member of the Board of Education. As a result of legislation passed during the 2016 session of the Maryland General Assembly, the SMOB can now vote on matters related to collective bargaining, capital and operating budgets, and school closings, reopenings and boundaries. The SMOB cannot vote on negative personnel actions.  The SMOB is not paid, but receives a $5,000 college scholarship, student service learning hours, and one honors-level social studies credit.