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Dawn Iannaco-Hahn

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This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Dawn Iannaco-Hahn
Image of Dawn Iannaco-Hahn
Elections and appointments
Last election

July 19, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Siena College, 1997

Graduate

Loyola University Maryland, 2000

Other

Johns Hopkins University, 2003

Personal
Birthplace
Glens Falls, N.Y.
Profession
Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor
Contact

Dawn Iannaco-Hahn ran for election to the Montgomery County Board of Education to represent District 5 in Maryland. She lost in the primary on July 19, 2022.

Iannaco-Hahn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2022

See also: Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Montgomery County Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Brenda Wolff defeated Valerie Coll in the general election for Montgomery County Board of Education District 5 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brenda Wolff
Brenda Wolff (Nonpartisan)
 
52.4
 
128,313
Image of Valerie Coll
Valerie Coll (Nonpartisan)
 
46.8
 
114,577
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.8
 
1,873

Total votes: 244,763
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Montgomery County Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Brenda Wolff and Valerie Coll defeated Dawn Iannaco-Hahn in the primary for Montgomery County Board of Education District 5 on July 19, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Brenda Wolff
Brenda Wolff (Nonpartisan)
 
39.5
 
53,474
Image of Valerie Coll
Valerie Coll (Nonpartisan)
 
39.3
 
53,110
Image of Dawn Iannaco-Hahn
Dawn Iannaco-Hahn (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
21.2
 
28,704

Total votes: 135,288
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Dawn Iannaco-Hahn completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Iannaco-Hahn's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Dawn Iannaco-Hahn earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Siena College in 1993. She earned her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University Maryland (formerly Loyola College in Maryland) in 2000. She also received a Post-Master’s Certificate in Clinical and Community Counseling from Johns Hopkins University in 2003 and then subsequently passed her Nationally Certified Counselor and MD State licensure exams to be a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). She has worked with children and families as a mental health therapist in a clinic setting, a partial-hospital program, and as a school based mental health therapist in both an elementary/middle school and a Head Start center in Baltimore City. She and is a State of Maryland Approved Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Supervisor and has supervised numerous graduate level students. She has also worked as a targeted case manager/Certified Community Support Specialist (CSS). She is currently employed as an infant and early childhood mental health therapist/consultant. She is married with 2 children.
  • I hope to bring a fresh perspective and a new voice to the Board of Education, particularly the voice of a current MCPS parent, and the voice of someone experienced in the field of mental health.
  • I won't tow the line and I won't rubber stamp everything. I will take my voting power seriously, I will ask tough questions, and won't be afraid to be the only dissenting voice.
  • I believe our Board of Education members should really be listening to its stakeholders. I want to hear what people have to say and engage in respectful dialogue.
My passion is mental health. I have been in the mental health field for over 22 years, with much of that being in school mental health. Mental health is part of total health and mental health services should be available to anyone who needs it, this is especially true when talking about children and adolescents. The area of school mental health is one of the most important because it delivers the services where the students are and where they spend most of their time. By bringing mental health services to school buildings through a partnership between providers and the school system, we bring mental health services to ALL students regardless of income/socioeconomic status, which is generally the number one factor that impedes people from getting the mental health services they need.
Within Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), students are begging for more mental health services. Parents, like me, have been testifying in support of increased mental services for our children, and the staff want to see their students mentally well and ready to learn, so there is no downside to increasing mental health services and supports to the students of MCPS.
I look up to my parents and hope to follow their example as I continue through my life. My parents were kind and selfless people who were liked and respected by everyone they met, but my father especially, was not afraid to speak out and ruffle some feathers or disrupt the status quo when it was necessary and right. My mother was more of a quite warrior who would do anything and everything for her family, but wasn't afraid to go full mama bear and make her voice heard when something wasn't right and needed to be fixed or addressed. I am definitely a combination of both of them and so thankful I had them as role models for as long as I did. They left their marks on their family, friends, and community when they were alive and I intend to do the same.
Honesty and transparency are the most important principles for any elected official. Without honesty and transparency, we cannot have trust, and without trust, we can never have a fully functioning system.
People may not always like what someone has to say and they may not always agree with them, but as long as the person is being up front and honest in what they are saying, trust can be achieved, and respect should be given. You can disagree with someone and still respect them as long as they are being honest and coming from a good place.
The first major historical event that I fully remember and that had a profound effect on me was 9/11. I was 26 years old.
I alive for events such as the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Gulf War, but I was young when those events took place and therefore do not have vivid memories of them like to do with 9/11.
I got my very first job was when I was 14 years old and have been working ever since. My first job was a summer job at an ice cream and candy shop in the town where I grew up. I worked there for 2 summers.

My first job in my field of mental health, was in 2000 right after I finished my Master's program. I worked at The Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (JHBMC) as a mental health therapist and case manager in the Child and Adolescent Division of their Community Psychiatry Program. I worked at JHBMC for a total of 5 years, after receiving a promotion after my 3rd year there.
I lost both my parents. My father passed away when I was only 27 and this was before I was married or had children. My mother passed away just after my 40th birthday when my children were only 4 and 6. I was with each of them when they died, holding their hand, which was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, let alone do it twice. I've dealt with a lot of familial loss in my life, starting with my only living grandparent, my maternal grandmother, when I was 8 years old. Dealing with these losses has made me the strong woman I am today. It has made me appreciate life and not take things for granted. It's one of the reasons I question everything and am not afraid to speak up when something isn't right and fight to make it right. We are given one life and I am going to do everything I can to live it the best I can and provide my children the best life I can give them while I am still here on this earth.
The primary job of any school board member is to be responsible and accountable to its stakeholders. That means engaging with them, listening to them, asking them questions, and then using that information to help make the most informed decisions possible, especially when casting a vote.
A school board's constituents, by definition, are the people who can vote its members into office, so that means everyone in Montgomery County who is registered to vote, but a school board's stakeholders are the people they are elected to serve, which would be the students, families, and staff of Montgomery County Public Schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools needs a comprehensive school mental health program to serve the school community. We need to listen to what the students, families, and staff are asking for, which is increased mental health services and supports. Most of my professional experience is providing mental health services in schools, so I hope to use this experience to help get MCPS what it needs. We also need to make sure that MCPS has a fully functioning and well-run EAP so that staff can get the assistance they need.
The only thing to really say on this is that we must NEVER close school buildings again. We must never cut off students from their peers and teachers and we must never deny students in-person education ever again.
The first and most important way to build relationships with parents, is to have actual MCPS parents on the Board of Education. The BOE needs a fresh perspective and that includes the perspective of current MCPS parents.
In order to increase parental involvement, we need to change meeting times to the evenings so that parents, (and students and staff), can attend and give public testimony. We must also keep the ability to submit audio or video testimony because not all people will be able to attend meetings, no matter what time they are held, and everyone should have the opportunity to be heard. The meetings also need to be streamlined and made shorter so that more people will want to attend and get involved. Right now, the meetings are too long and tedious which causes people to not want to come or to only stay for public testimony and then leave. Parents are a big part of a school community so we must do everything we can to engage them and make them feel a part of that community.

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See also


External links

Footnotes