Appreciate the post; but disagree it is helpful. Chen Ling, do you know the answer to why APS spends more per student? (There's some discussion and explanation on an AEM thread) And what are your skills that you bring? What are your positions on various policies? What are your thoughts on instruction? How would you manage boundaries/enrollment across schools? |
Chen Ling "I think the current members of the school board care about the teachers and students. I think the other people running care as well, but caring is not enough -- you have to have a plan."
This really rubs me the wrong way. Who is Chen Ling to think he is the only one with a plan who can save APS? What is that based on? It's so arrogant and more than a little Trumpian for a guy with literally zero experience in APS. |
Yet he doesn't say what his plan is. |
Chen - how would you address the county and state drastically UNDERfunding APS?
Youngkin is cutting the budget in times when our COL costs are rising. |
Exactly. |
I don't think Chen Ling even understands what a School Board member can and can't do. Pass. |
He says what it is based on--his private sector experience with data. Based on his website, he also sounds like someone who has a hammer and thinks APS is just another nail. The board doesn't run the school system, it provides direction and oversight--we need people who listen to the public, have a broad overview of the issues, and can ask good questions during staff presentations--not people who look at everything through a single lens or come in with pre-determined solutions. (That goes for all the candidates, not just Ling.) |
Involvement should be a pre-requisite, no other city has as many advisory councils and commissions as APS and pretty much anyone who volunteers can get appointed. There's no reason to not get involved with one of those if you "care about the schools"--you don't have to start with the board. Plus, "the relevant skills" at the board level should include knowing how a school system works--having gone to public school for 12 years or having kids in the schools does not give you any special competency. It used to be pretty standard that candidates would have experience on the instruction, facilities, or budget committees and be active in a PTA or BLPC or something. |
I completely agree. The only two candidates who have this experience are Kathleen and Larry, but Larry's was a long time ago, and a lot has changed in APS since his time. I'm not counting Zuraya just having joined one committee yesterday in a calculated ploy so she could pretend she's actually involved. And Chen hasn't even done that. |
I don't think Chen understands this. |
Larry has been in the schools recently as a long term sub |
Very few of these people run for school board. What about the anons here tearing down CL for his lack of experience? Why don’t they run? |
+1 |
You don't think lack of experience in a school board candidate is a relevant thing for the voters to discuss? I do. |
Hi. Honestly not a whole lot -- I've done the standard things that an involved and priviledged parent has done -- I've joined my school's PTA, I've donated, I've volunteered in the classroom and as a chaperone. Outside of APS proper, I teach ballroom dance at College Park, I coach my daughter's soccer team, I tutor undergraduate CS students, and I'm mentoring a couple of high school students (one in APS). My wife and I moved to Arlington for the excellent schools. It wasn't something I thought I needed to worry about. I got involved because of the boundary change process. During public hearings I, along with others, asked questions for which we received responses but not real answers. At the time I didn't know whether they didn't want to give us the answer or if they didn't have the answer. So I started digging -- reading board docs, watching old board meetings, asked followup questions, etc., and it became obvious that they often didn't have the answer. This kind of problem isn't unique to APS. I've seen this in many organizations where some things are done a certain way because of risk aversion, because it was the easy thing to do, or because "it's always been done that way". I have a lot of experience trying (successfully and unsuccessfully) to fix these underlying problems. I believe that this skill set -- active listening, problem solving, people coordination -- would be a useful one for the school board. Since then I've been learning as much as I can -- talking with teachers, parents, principals, facilities folks, and (since declaring) every member of the current board except CDT. I know I have a lot to learn still, but I'm a fast learner and public education is something I truly care about. |