By Linda Perlstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 3, 2004; Page B04

Two familiar names -- Sharon W. Cox and Stephen N. Abrams -- and a new one, Valerie Ervin, led the primary voting yesterday for Montgomery County Board of Education seats.

With nearly all the votes counted for the board's at-large seat, Cox, an incumbent from Germantown, held a commanding lead to advance to the November general election, followed by Tommy Le, a Silver Spring engineer.

In each board race, the top two vote-getters in the primary move on to compete for a four-year term.

The District 2 (Rockville-Potomac) race was led by Abrams, a venture capitalist and chairman of the county Republican Party who previously served several years on the school board. Incumbent Walter Lange, an engineer, placed ahead of software developer Bob Astrove for the second spot.

Lange and Abrams emphasized past accomplishments in their campaigns, while Astrove, a special education advocate, called for greater oversight of school system and board operations.

In the race for the District 4 (Silver Spring) seat, Ervin, a County Council aide, will face Sheldon Fishman, an Internet specialist for a D.C. law firm, in November.

After the deadline for removing names from the primary ballot, District 4 incumbent Kermit V. Burnett and first-time candidate Roger Patterson announced they weren't running, and neither campaigned. But last week, Burnett said that if he won the primary, he would pursue reelection.

Burnett finished in last place.

Ervin and Fishman differed on whether students should attend classes divided by academic ability -- Ervin said she believes that grouping keeps lower-performing students from challenging work, while Fishman said it is essential to give each student appropriate instruction. But the candidates shared a lack of confidence in the current board and frustration over Burnett's ambiguous role in the race.

For the at-large seat, Cox emphasized policy decisions during her tenure, such as a new grading policy and changes in the primary grades of the neediest schools. Opponent Le said he wants more scrutiny of the superintendent, and teacher Michael Ibañez of Montgomery Village questioned board members' commitment to their job.

In Howard County, nine candidates ran for four spots on the November ballot to fill two at-large seats. One of those seats is held by Sandra H. French, who is stepping down. The other is held by retired businessman James P. O'Donnell, who was appointed to the board in 2001.

With two-thirds of the votes counted last night, the leaders to move on to November were, in order, theater consultant Mary Kay Sigaty of Columbia and three Ellicott City residents: writer Diane B. Mikulis, O'Donnell and lawyer Frank J. Aquino.

The new Howard panel will have to learn to work with a new superintendent -- John O'Rourke left Sunday after the board did not renew his contract -- address the aftermath of two grade-changing investigations, work around tight fiscal restraints and revise boundary lines when a new high school opens in 2005.

Contenders also included lawyer and consultant Roger J. Lerner and county public information officer Robert Doyle Ballinger II of Ellicott City, lawyer Allen R. Dyer of Glenelg, shop owner Cynthia L. Vaillancourt of Clarksville and children's program manager Joanne Heckman of Columbia.

Three seats in Calvert County are open, but only one had enough candidates for a primary: the District 1 spot in southern Calvert being vacated by Gail Hoerauf-Bennett. Last night, Department of Defense engineer Jeffrey D. Borgholthaus solidly won a place on the November ballot. He will face retired technology specialist Frank Theodore Parish of Dowell, who finished just ahead of former World Bank employee Jack Fringer of Lusby for the second spot.

The contenders -- who also included energy employee Tim Klares of St. Leonard -- joined in opposing unfunded mandates and high-stakes testing; the campaigns also centered on budget and management issues.

St. Mary's board Chairman Cathy Allen of Hollywood won a commanding victory in District 2, which represents the south-central part of the county. Retired bookkeeper Clare Whitbeck of Leonardtown took the second spot, edging Hollywood real estate broker Dennis Jack Hubscher and human-resources worker Judy Hinaman of Leonardtown.

Real estate broker Pat Woodburn of Compton and naval program manager Gary Kessler of Lexington Park won spots on the St. Mary's at-large ballot, over engineer Timothy P. Twigg of Mechanicsville and student Tessa M. Lowe of California.

Staff writers Ylan Q. Mui and Joshua Partlow contributed to this report.