Falls Church City School Board Candidates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A small minority of FCCPS parents wanted to keep the post-Labor Day, and they came to the School Board to argue that for the later start to protect their European and OBX vacations. Seriously. The School Board at the time actually said that wasn't a good enough reason and that kids needed the extra time before Labor Day to prepare for the AP, IB, and SOL exams. It was actually an equity issue and the reaction of some parents showed that while they may like to talk about equity and their "liberal values," when the SB takes real action to promote equity, and it cuts into their vacation plans, they're not interested.

To get back to the candidates, I'm voting for Silverman and Anderson because I think they're our best chances for polite and constructive dissent and a move away from group-think. I have yet to hear anything from Ortiz or Tysse that tells me they have empathy for how last year impacted students, families, teachers, and staff. I'm sure they're very nice people, but I don't need more very nice people on the School Board who say we all did the best we could and there are no learnings to be had from the past 18 months. The current Board is full of lovely, kind people who were afraid to be a voice for the community or for the staff and teachers. I don't know a single thing about Gould or Mooney.

It was not a minority. It was a majority of parents. Only the teachers wanted pre-Labor Day. At no time did anyone present evidence that this was an equity issue and when asked for evidence it was not produced. One week literally has no impact on scores. In fact, I found evidence that the studies suggest just that - it isn't an equity issue. But there are a lot of teachers and administrators hiding behind race issues so they can't be challenged. Next time we do anything controversial, like changing names, let's hide behind race so that no one will oppose you or they risk being called a racist.

[Anonymous]

Why is it so important to you to start after Labor Day? Just because it was the norm here until recently? Or so you can do another week at the beach? I would much rather have my kids finish the school year at the same time as FCPS, Arlington, MCPS, DCPS so they have an equal chance at summer opportunities like jobs and internships.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think the true number of people in FCC who support Ilya won't be apparent until after the polls close. I know several people who plan to vote for him but would never put a sign in their yard and aren't public about their support.

Why would people refrain from putting up a yard sign or being public about support? Are they anticipating blowback from their "friends"?

PP - Yes, because people here are pretty intolerant when it comes to different views, sadly. In many crowds, admitting you like Ilya is a black mark.

I hope that's not true. If it is, then (a) people need some backbone, and (b) anyone that would give you blowback is not your friend.

Agree with the pp and while I’d be fine personally dealing with the blow back I am more concerned about it impacting my kids.

My kids are in fear of anything out of the scope of groupthink being expressed by either me or spouse as they know they would loose their (pseudo) friends in an FCC minute...
All of this is one big social experiment...my kids cant drive but understand the above concept....i wasnt in my 40s until i witnessed it-or understood it...

This is sad, and frankly disturbing. You (and your kids) are the living embodiment of the lyrics to Rush’s Subdivisions.

Ugh. I am the PP and re-reading this “intended-to-be-witty” post I realize I was just rude. My apologies to the person to whom I was responding. That’s a hard choice to make. I trust you’ll do the best for your family.

I don't think your post was rude--I did find it witty and looked up the lyrics, aware of Rush but was not a die hard fan, great Canadian band. Thank you for circling back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A small minority of FCCPS parents wanted to keep the post-Labor Day, and they came to the School Board to argue that for the later start to protect their European and OBX vacations. Seriously. The School Board at the time actually said that wasn't a good enough reason and that kids needed the extra time before Labor Day to prepare for the AP, IB, and SOL exams. It was actually an equity issue and the reaction of some parents showed that while they may like to talk about equity and their "liberal values," when the SB takes real action to promote equity, and it cuts into their vacation plans, they're not interested.

To get back to the candidates, I'm voting for Silverman and Anderson because I think they're our best chances for polite and constructive dissent and a move away from group-think. I have yet to hear anything from Ortiz or Tysse that tells me they have empathy for how last year impacted students, families, teachers, and staff. I'm sure they're very nice people, but I don't need more very nice people on the School Board who say we all did the best we could and there are no learnings to be had from the past 18 months. The current Board is full of lovely, kind people who were afraid to be a voice for the community or for the staff and teachers. I don't know a single thing about Gould or Mooney.

It was not a minority. It was a majority of parents. Only the teachers wanted pre-Labor Day. At no time did anyone present evidence that this was an equity issue and when asked for evidence it was not produced. One week literally has no impact on scores. In fact, I found evidence that the studies suggest just that - it isn't an equity issue. But there are a lot of teachers and administrators hiding behind race issues so they can't be challenged. Next time we do anything controversial, like changing names, let's hide behind race so that no one will oppose you or they risk being called a racist.

This is completely untrue. At the risk of outing myself, I served on the calendar committee the year we chose to make schools go back 2 weeks before Labor Day (and no, I'm not a teacher) and the drivers of the pre-Labor Day start were parents -- especially parents of high school aged kids -- and administrators who understandably care about the schools' test scores. Teachers were split or agnostic (and remember they actually already start before Labor Day even if kids don't come back before Labor Day, because they have 7-10 days of teacher workdays before school starts).

You seem to think there is some evil ulterior motive to a pre-Labor Day start. I don't know what you think that is.

According to Pew, in 2019 only 23% of US schoolchildren started after Labor Day, and the mid-Atlantic had the most post-Labor Day starts and it was still only 25% of kids. I bet those percentages were even lower in 2021. School in America starts before Labor Day now. It just does.

Link to the Pew article: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/14/back-to-school-dates-u-s/

[Anonymous]

Tate Gould has a web site. https://www.tategould.org/ He is a good candidate. He was at the Falls Church Education Foundation booth at the Falls Church Festival yesterday, politely wearing a mask. David Ortiz also has a web site https://ortiz4fccps.info/ and was at the festival (wearing a mask). I think these 2 are my 3rd and 4th school board picks, after Lori Silverman and Kathleen Tysse.

[Anonymous]

I’m probably between voting for Lori Silverman, Kathleen Tysse, Jarrod Anderson, Tate Gould and David Ortiz.

[Anonymous]

Regarding Shapiro, I am aware from having listened to right wing radio quite a bit last year to keep myself informed as to what they were saying that they repeatedly and strongly advocate that their listeners who want to change things ought to run for local school boards and city councils, etc. While this is obviously a good concept basically, it is also in this case a somewhat organized political movement designed to make inroads across the country in blue areas.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you guys focus on getting George Mason back to the standard it set decades ago? You might as well go to Marshall these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you guys focus on getting George Mason back to the standard it set decades ago? You might as well go to Marshall these days.

Don’t set it up like this. Marshall is a good school too. There are multiple things that can go into deciding whether to buy into one district or the other and as a FCCPS middle school parent who loves this district I am not belittling our Fairfax neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you guys focus on getting George Mason back to the standard it set decades ago? You might as well go to Marshall these days.

If we are going to talk about real issues, I would like someone on the school board to take a look at how and if MYP and standards based grading is negatively impacting the academic standards at the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else running on a similar platform as Shapiro?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tate Gould has a web site. https://www.tategould.org/ He is a good candidate. He was at the Falls Church Education Foundation booth at the Falls Church Festival yesterday, politely wearing a mask. David Ortiz also has a web site https://ortiz4fccps.info/ and was at the festival (wearing a mask). I think these 2 are my 3rd and 4th school board picks, after Lori Silverman and Kathleen Tysse.

Saw his website-apparently he was a math teacher and possibly worked on math policy?(not sure)-is Tate for or against watering down math? ie getting rid of advanced classes and the motto of "differentiation in the classroom" (gag, chuckle).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you guys focus on getting George Mason back to the standard it set decades ago? You might as well go to Marshall these days.

If we are going to talk about real issues, I would like someone on the school board to take a look at how and if MYP and standards based grading is negatively impacting the academic standards at the high school.

Agreed. We need the School Board to really examine SBG. From what I hear, most students and teachers do not like it, and as a parent, I think it's horrible and is leading to so much more stress with each quarter's grade based on only one or two assessments. Any time a parent questions or criticizes it we are told that we just don't understand it and then we get ten more videos with nothing but buzzwords that purportedly explain it.

[Anonymous]

Courtney Mooney here.

Feel free to check out my website:

www.Mooney4fccsb.com

You can read about my candidacy, what I have done over the past year with regards to our schools (I assure you it was well beyond signs), and feel free to ask me any questions you like.

Additionally, the FCNP is posting candidate responses to several questions posed by our Teachers Association rep. I believe it will be available online at FCNP pretty soon.

As a quick overview:

1) I’m in favor of debate, discussion, and asking tough questions in board meetings
2) I believe we need strong managerial and developmental oversight of the Superintendent role
3) I want to create better and more proactive/effective communication and availability from the board to both our community and school staff.
4) Our Teachers are great but are being pulled in far too many directions and have very little time to devote to their day-to-day responsibilities like lesson planning so I would like to revisit how we are asking them to prioritize their time as well as give them more outlets to provide feedback and assessment of their administrators and the Superintendent to create a more empowered and transparent environment for them and ensure our leaders are getting the tools they need to lead effectively.
5) We need to ensure we are addressing learning loss and mental health for our kids
6) I would like to see more focus on mastery of material vs standardized test scores
7) We need to ensure our Math/Science/ STEM programs are where they need to be and strengthening those programs
8) I would like to see some focus on exposing students to technical and professional training… college isn’t for everyone!
9) The calendar, while I do understand the intent, is a huge burden time wise and financially on working families and disruptive to kids. I would like to re-examine that for the coming year. One possible solution beyond having standard federal holidays off is to use registration time as an opportunity for families to designate cultural and religious holidays they plan to miss school for so lesson and test planning can take those dates into consideration. Kids should not have to make up work on those days and absence should not be counted. It’s just an idea but we need to better balance the calendar, no question.


Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via my website. I welcome your questions.

[Anonymous]

TL/DR
I know Kathleen Tysse from PTA and generally from around FCC. She's a former teacher and a very involved member of our little community. I've seen her work for the schools and be involved in the city's affairs over the past few years and will vote for her.