At-Large

About Lynne Harris

Lynne Harris is a dot-connector who brings her extensive and broad experience as a nurse, lawyer, public health expert and teacher to her Board work, while striving to ensure others - particularly students and staff - know their own superpowers and influence to drive change.

Having raised her hand to volunteer at her first PTA meeting, Ms. Harris went on to serve as PTA president and get involved in the advocacy work of the PTA at the County level, serving three years as vice president of Advocacy, and three years as president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs. Finding herself unable to sit on the sidelines and watch student leaders taking heat from community members over boundary change conversations in 2019, she made the decision to run for the Board as a conduit for student voice.

Her mission as a member of the Board of Education is to empower others to understand their influence and power - and to encourage young people to run for office so that the next generation is at the policy-making table. A no-nonsense pragmatist from Kansas, who prides herself on her objective, common sense decision-making, she actively engages with more than 150 students from across the County via her student advisory group to ensure that the needs of students - as the school system’s customers - remain front of mind.

Her goal is to ensure that every single student and member of staff in every single school every single day feels safe, welcomed and valued for being exactly who they are - especially LGBTQIA+ students who, her medical experience has taught her, are most at risk of depression, anxiety, homelessness and suicide. 

Ms. Harris taught Medical Science with Clinical Applications at Thomas Edison High School of Technology from August 2016 through November 30, 2020; taught courses at Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and worked for 14 years as an attorney at the US Department of Justice, served as Tom Hucker’s legislative director in 2014. Prior to that, she spent two decades working as a nurse. She has a degree in nursing from the University of Tulsa, a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Ms. Harris was elected to her first four-year term on November 3, 2020. She currently serves as vice president of the Board, the chairperson of the Board's Fiscal Management Committee; is a member of the Board's Strategic Planning and Special Populations Committees; and serves as the Board's representative to the Maryland Association of Boards of Education's (MABE) Finance Committee and the Resolutions Committee. She has served on the MCPS Superintendent’s Operating Budget Group; as a Commissioner on Montgomery County’s Commission on Children and Youth; represents the Board of Education on Montgomery County’s Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, is an active mentor with Youth Creating Change/Communities United Against Hate (CUAH); and serves on the Board of Directors of CUAH and The Bernie Scholarship Awards Program.