Congratulations to Richard Montgomery High School freshman Richie Yarrow for being elected to serve the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations (MCCPTA) as Recording Secretary [“Student to serve as officer for Montgomery’s PTA council,” May 2].

Although I have never met or spoken with Mr. Yarrow, having been a onetime delegate to the MCCPTA and having worked with past MCCPTA leadership, I am confident that he will bring a maturity to the MCCPTA that has been lacking for a long time.

It seems that the MCCPTA is still full of politics and personal agendas. How else could you explain the comment made by Sumbal Sheldon regarding Mr. Yarrow’s election to office? “He is a qualified candidate, I just feel that we make a lot of important decisions, and it is hard for a child to understand certain things and I feel it will change the dynamic of the board.”

I have a feeling Mr. Yarrow will read about each issue, do his due diligence, ask questions and seek to understand. That alone will make him more attuned to what the MCCPTA should be trying to accomplish than the MCCPTA’s current membership must be.

It wasn’t Mr. Yarrow who voted for someone he didn’t know anything about. He isn’t the one now complaining. And he isn’t looking to change the rules to protect himself from his own ignorance.

The board dynamic will change, if Montgomery County Pubic Schools are lucky. Mr. Yarrow’s presence may just force other board members to be better prepared with an understanding of each issue, better able to explain the issues and perhaps better prepared to vote smartly.

The schools and the MCCPTA will be served well by Mr. Yarrow. There will now be someone serving who wants to be there for the right reasons, has no personal long term agenda, and has no political motives. Mr. Yarrow will truly have the student population’s best interest at heart.

Since it was agreed that Mr. Yarrow is qualified it seems his only sin is to be young. Well, we should all be so sinful.

Thank you for taking on such a responsibility, Mr. Yarrow. I wish you nothing but great success.

Tom Brennan, Germantown

The writer is a former MCCPTA delegate.