Montgomery County, Term 2023 - 2027
Member, Education Policy Committee
Samir Paul, Esq. is an attorney, educator, and organizer committed to sustaining and improving public schools as engines of economic opportunity.
Samir's family immigrated to the United States from India in the early 1980s, and they ultimately settled in Maryland to start a business and to send Samir and his brother to excellent public schools. He attended Wayside Elementary School, Herbert Hoover Middle School, and Montgomery Blair High School before going on to earn his bachelor's in computer science at Harvard University, where he was awarded the Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and the F. Skiddy von Stade Award for personal excellence. He also holds a Master's degree in teaching from American University and a JD from Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Dean's Scholar as well as head teaching assistant to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger.
Samir first came to teaching in Washington DC's public schools, where he taught high-school math and eventually started DCPS's only AP Computer Science class in 2011-12. After some time away from the classroom, Samir returned to his alma mater in Montgomery County, teaching computer science in the very same Blair High School classroom (room 314) where he had once been a student himself. In his first year back, he led his students to Blair's highest average APCS score in the prior five years. In 2016, he was named Montgomery County's "Rising Star Teacher of the Year," and in 2017, the National Education Association identified him as one of its "30 Under 30" educators. While at Blair, Samir served as a PTSA Vice President, leading a large digital fundraising campaign. He also served as a leader in the Montgomery County Education Association. A strong advocate of early science and math exposure for kids, Samir (under the aegis of the Blair Magnet Foundation) helped start the STEM Talent Pipeline pilot program, which identified 40 girls, low-income, and underrepresented minority 3rd graders to provide three years of accelerated and enriched math coursework. He was a teacher representative at a 2016 White House summit on expanding computer science education, and he worked directly with then-delegate Aruna Miller and Code.org toward the passage of 2018's HB 281, which made Maryland a national leader in CS education. He has also worked as a University of Maryland instructional coach, supervising computer science student teachers in their field placements.
Outside of teaching, Samir also has a variety of other government, private sector, and organizing experience. He has worked as a consultant in advanced analytics and optimization for IBM, where he helped the U.S. Postal Service move international parcels faster and more cost-effectively and helped launch the pilot for the USPS Informed Delivery program. Just before attending law school, Samir ran for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Samir lives in Bethesda, where he also serves on the board of the Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture.