Opinion: Henry Kaye Represents the Past

Henry Kaye Trying to Move Back to the Past

There are two candidates for next year's Student Member Of the Board of Education(SMOB). Hana O'Looney and Henry Kaye, both from Richard Montgomery will compete in the district wide election on April 21. Only secondary students(Middle and High School) are allowed to vote in the election. You can research the candidates and give us feedback on an endorsement in our Election Headquarters. Hana O'Looney's campaign is very much a social media campaign, and although some may not like it, social media is the life of a lot of people. Her theme colors are more vibrant and modern. Her campaign name is also more modern. Henry Kaye on the other hand has a very limited social media campaign, only putting links to instagram on his website. His theme colors are classic and formal, and his campaign name doesn't even make sense. Then there are also the policies. Hana is focused on creating new policies, and strengthening old ones, and while Henry talks about this, he also talks about how he wants to remove "lack-luster" programs. Henry Kaye is moving back into the past with his campaign.

Social Media Usage

Hana O'Looney's campaign social media is her primary form of communication. Hana has about 6500 followers on Instagram, compared to Henry Kaye's 2100. On Twitter, Henry Kaye has 18 followers, while Hana has 200. Hana has 88 Instagram posts compared to Henry Kaye's 19 posts. Hana is undoubtedly more dedicated to social media for her campaign. And, from the outside that might not seem like a problem for Henry Kaye, but 90% of secondary students have been on social media according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. So, social media is definitely the modern form of communication for the people who will elect the next SMOB. If Henry is not fully utilizing the most modern form of communication, he is trying to ignore the present and future, and moving back into the past.

Social Media Names

You can also see a small mention toward formality and the past in Henry Kaye's Social Media Name. Hana O'Looney, and almost all of the old SMOB candidates were [First Name]4smob. Hana is @hana4smob, yet Henry Kaye is @Henry_SMOB. It almost seems as if he refused to use the 4 because it was too informal for him. Maybe he thinks that it was informal, but it is the present and the future despite what he thinks. Should our SMOB be trying to take us into the past, backtracking?

Hana O'Looney and Henry Kaye's Website Headings Photo: hana4smob.com and henrysmob.com

Theme Colors

Hana O'Looney's theme colors are vibrant, yet Henry Kaye's are plain and formal. Our time period is not one where formality is a very important theme, especially among secondary students. Therefore, the modern theme would be the more vibrant colors of Hana O'Looney's website, not the formal colors of Henry Kaye's. And, to top it off, Henry Kaye's first picture on his website is in Black and White, while Hana's heading is a color video with captions in three different languages - a stark difference. Black and white leaves the impression on the viewer that this candidate represents the past, not the future. So, Henry Kaye seems to be taking a trip back into the past, not the future like Hana O'Looney.

Policies

Hana and Henry's Policies are similar in a lot of key ways. It is noteworthy that Hana O'Looney's policies are a lot more in-depth than Henry's though. Henry has multiple surprising policies. One of which is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity which seems to focus on combating hate, despite the name suggesting it would focus on creating a more diverse county. In this, there is no mention to Restorative Justice, but mention of zero tolerance for hate. He also calls his policy about closing the opportunity gap, "Expanding Free Speech." Which seems like a strange thing to call that. He talks about eliminating "Lack-Luster" programs, but he does not give any information about what constitutes a "Lack-Luster" program other than that they don't educate our students. Eliminating programs because they cost too much is moving back into the past. Not focusing on Restorative Justice is moving into the past. Henry Kaye's policies do not help the county move forwards.

Henry Kaye says that not being in the IB program or in the SGA is a reason to vote for him, and someone else replies about how he attends one of the most privileged high schools. Photo: @henry_smob on Instagram

Trying to Backtrack?

It does appear that Henry Kaye may now be trying to change his tune. He has posted multiple times on social media in the past few days, and in those posts has renamed some of those policies. They are not nearly as colorful as Hana's though. However, on his instagram posts, people rightly point out that he is a White Richard Montgomery Student, despite the fact that he is running on the fact that he was not involved in any prior County Government work or SGA work, and is representative of all people. Henry says that having no experience in county government is why you should elect him. So, someone who has no idea how things work should be sworn in during a once in a lifetime pandemic? He has followed Hana's lead and created DCC(Down County Consortium) and NEC(North East Consortium) town halls. However, doing the same thing as Hana, it kind of takes the geniusness out of the solution to underrepresentation. Henry announced these town halls yesterday, yet Hana started NEC and DCC committees and town halls three weeks earlier, and her committees are headed by Blen Yohannes, a former SMOB candidate who ran on making the position more modern and less formal, and she also attends school in the DCC(At Albert Einstein High). Comparing the two, it seems as if Henry Kaye has been doing a lot of talk, while Hana O'Looney has been taking action, actually getting students from these schools to run her commitess. Henry Kaye is moving back to the past with his campaign.