APS School Board candidates?

[Anonymous]

ChenLing wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The budget is posted. Have you taken a look at it?

Yes, along with those of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Montgomery County MD.
One major part of why we pay more is that we pay school bonds (from the Capital Improvement Plans) out of operating expenses.
This went from $55.7 million in 2023 to $64.9 million in 2024, and budgeted to be $67.3 million in FY 2025. That is basically the statutory maximum.
That does account for about half the overage compared to others -- Alexandria and Montgomery County's debts are handled by their counties, and Fairfax's debt payments amount to about $3.3 million for FY 2025.

However the other 10% is hard to account for. Compared to those 3 districts we have similar class sizes, similar number of schools per capita, similar student-teacher ratios (if you take into account all student facing positions). I think our teachers are more tenured (have been here longer) so are higher on the pay scale, but because we pay them less compared to our neighbors it almost exactly evens out.

It may just be too many positions at Syphax, but the budget really obfuscates that.

For context, now that the State has passed a high education budget, APS' FY 2025 budget is only about $20 million in the red. Last year we spent ~$40+ million of our reserves. Our reserves are down to $6 million now.
And this is with more cuts to almost every school that has already been cut to the bone.

Thanks for posting with real profile. You have my vote! I will also be voting for Kathleen Clark. Zuraya seems fine but the local Latino community really burned bridges when they rallied around CDT. I’m not sure I’m ready to trust their endorsements.

[Anonymous]

now that the State has passed a high education budget

I thought Youngkin was trying to cut the budget. Did the GA fix that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

ChenLing wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The budget is posted. Have you taken a look at it?

Yes, along with those of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Montgomery County MD.
One major part of why we pay more is that we pay school bonds (from the Capital Improvement Plans) out of operating expenses.
This went from $55.7 million in 2023 to $64.9 million in 2024, and budgeted to be $67.3 million in FY 2025. That is basically the statutory maximum.
That does account for about half the overage compared to others -- Alexandria and Montgomery County's debts are handled by their counties, and Fairfax's debt payments amount to about $3.3 million for FY 2025.

However the other 10% is hard to account for. Compared to those 3 districts we have similar class sizes, similar number of schools per capita, similar student-teacher ratios (if you take into account all student facing positions). I think our teachers are more tenured (have been here longer) so are higher on the pay scale, but because we pay them less compared to our neighbors it almost exactly evens out.

It may just be too many positions at Syphax, but the budget really obfuscates that.

For context, now that the State has passed a high education budget, APS' FY 2025 budget is only about $20 million in the red. Last year we spent ~$40+ million of our reserves. Our reserves are down to $6 million now.
And this is with more cuts to almost every school that has already been cut to the bone.

Thanks for posting with real profile. You have my vote! I will also be voting for Kathleen Clark. Zuraya seems fine but the local Latino community really burned bridges when they rallied around CDT. I’m not sure I’m ready to trust their endorsements.

Zuraya was a smooth talker but light on substance. I think she joined ed tech committee yesterday. Just kept saying how she will build partnerships. Give me some real experience and substance please.

[Anonymous]

Chen seems sincere but has he done anything in APS literally at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chen seems sincere but has he done anything in APS literally at all?

He’s smart but no APS experience.

Clark is a no-brainer but picking your second choice there are no other strong options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen seems sincere but has he done anything in APS literally at all?

He’s smart but no APS experience.

Clark is a no-brainer but picking your second choice there are no other strong options.

+1

[Anonymous]

Are there more candidate forums coming up?

[Anonymous]

Chen is my second choice after KC. No experience but he’s paying attention. Zuraya was vapid.

[Anonymous]

I’m voting for Larry Fishtahler only. I will only vote for people who have worked in the schools at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chen is my second choice after KC. No experience but he’s paying attention. Zuraya was vapid.

Is he though? He only started looking into things after he announced his campaign. Agree Zuraya has no substance at all, just a smooth talker relying on her Latina connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen is my second choice after KC. No experience but he’s paying attention. Zuraya was vapid.

Is he though? He only started looking into things after he announced his campaign. Agree Zuraya has no substance at all, just a smooth talker relying on her Latina connections.

Between chen, Zuraya, and Larry, I choose Chen for my second choice.

[Anonymous]

i may not even put down a second. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

ChenLing wrote:Hello everyone -- Chen Ling here.

For the person who asked, here is the link to the candidate forum hosted by APE and moderated by Jo DeVoe from ArlNow: https://vimeo.com/923302481?share=copy

I have an engineering/science/data background, with a focus on bringing visibility and understandability to complex data systems. I think that is a skill the current school board is sorely lacking.

For example, APS pays about 20% more per student than our neighboring locales, and *no one on the board knows why*. You can read the report from their Budget Advisory Council for the last several years where they call this out. We pay our teachers less -- we're on average 5th out of 8 in the area.

What they have done instead is to make small cuts uniformly across all of the schools, to the point where many schools are on a tipping point. I spoke with one principal who is losing yet another special ed teacher spot, after losing multiple teacher and staff positions in the last few years. Because of the rules, they have to get rid of their youngest teacher, who is apparently amazing. Right now they can barely provide enough special ed services to meet the needs of at need students in their school. They were down one at the beginning of the year, and the classroom teachers were not able to manage the classes because those students became too disruptive. With that extra special ed teacher, they were able to provide help for those kids and now everyone in those classes can focus on learning.

What the current board has been doing has not been enough. When you ask them questions you get a response, but often not a real answer, especially on the why. When I encountered this, I wondered whether they didn't want to give an answer or if they didn't know the answer, and it quickly because obvious that they didn't know the answer.

This is why I'm running. Like many of you, my wife and I moved to Arlington for the great schools and the great community. But our schools are in trouble, and what the board is currently doing is not enough. I think my unique skills will help provide clarity to the decision making process, and I will not stop asking questions or pushing until we start providing real answers. 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. I will do something different. I may fail, but it will not be for lack of trying.

Thank you if you've gotten to the end.
I'd be happy to respond to any questions.
You can see more about me and my platforms at: https://chen4arlington.org, or send me an email at [e-mail].

What do you mean the board doesn't know why we spend more than other counties? Four-fifths of the budget is staff salaries and Arlington has lower class sizes and smaller schools than most other counties (i.e., more staff). You talk about special ed staffing above--this is all based on planning factors and the number of students in the school with IEPs. You're suggesting that each school be allocated different numbers of staff based on (something) instead of having a uniform staffing model? How would that work? Who determines how many staff are really needed at each school? And as for letting go the "youngest" teacher, you probably mean the teacher with the least tenure, which is how that works in every school district in the country. Not to mention that APS staff are offered positions elsewhere in the system if a position is eliminated at a specific school.

Maybe you should volunteer for some committees and learn some more about how school systems work before running for one of the five board seats--we don't need another board member who only started paying attention when their kids hit elementary school and is now going to learn on the job by asking questions that have already been asked and answered a thousand times. You might also learn about what a school board is responsible for versus the paid school administration, and why you don't get answers from the people you are asking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

ChenLing wrote:Hello everyone -- Chen Ling here.

For the person who asked, here is the link to the candidate forum hosted by APE and moderated by Jo DeVoe from ArlNow: https://vimeo.com/923302481?share=copy

I have an engineering/science/data background, with a focus on bringing visibility and understandability to complex data systems. I think that is a skill the current school board is sorely lacking.

For example, APS pays about 20% more per student than our neighboring locales, and *no one on the board knows why*. You can read the report from their Budget Advisory Council for the last several years where they call this out. We pay our teachers less -- we're on average 5th out of 8 in the area.

What they have done instead is to make small cuts uniformly across all of the schools, to the point where many schools are on a tipping point. I spoke with one principal who is losing yet another special ed teacher spot, after losing multiple teacher and staff positions in the last few years. Because of the rules, they have to get rid of their youngest teacher, who is apparently amazing. Right now they can barely provide enough special ed services to meet the needs of at need students in their school. They were down one at the beginning of the year, and the classroom teachers were not able to manage the classes because those students became too disruptive. With that extra special ed teacher, they were able to provide help for those kids and now everyone in those classes can focus on learning.

What the current board has been doing has not been enough. When you ask them questions you get a response, but often not a real answer, especially on the why. When I encountered this, I wondered whether they didn't want to give an answer or if they didn't know the answer, and it quickly because obvious that they didn't know the answer.

This is why I'm running. Like many of you, my wife and I moved to Arlington for the great schools and the great community. But our schools are in trouble, and what the board is currently doing is not enough. I think my unique skills will help provide clarity to the decision making process, and I will not stop asking questions or pushing until we start providing real answers. 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. I will do something different. I may fail, but it will not be for lack of trying.

Thank you if you've gotten to the end.
I'd be happy to respond to any questions.
You can see more about me and my platforms at: https://chen4arlington.org, or send me an email at [e-mail].

What do you mean the board doesn't know why we spend more than other counties? Four-fifths of the budget is staff salaries and Arlington has lower class sizes and smaller schools than most other counties (i.e., more staff). You talk about special ed staffing above--this is all based on planning factors and the number of students in the school with IEPs. You're suggesting that each school be allocated different numbers of staff based on (something) instead of having a uniform staffing model? How would that work? Who determines how many staff are really needed at each school? And as for letting go the "youngest" teacher, you probably mean the teacher with the least tenure, which is how that works in every school district in the country. Not to mention that APS staff are offered positions elsewhere in the system if a position is eliminated at a specific school.

Maybe you should volunteer for some committees and learn some more about how school systems work before running for one of the five board seats--we don't need another board member who only started paying attention when their kids hit elementary school and is now going to learn on the job by asking questions that have already been asked and answered a thousand times. You might also learn about what a school board is responsible for versus the paid school administration, and why you don't get answers from the people you are asking.

+1000. Thank you. Sit down LC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

ChenLing wrote:Hello everyone -- Chen Ling here.

For the person who asked, here is the link to the candidate forum hosted by APE and moderated by Jo DeVoe from ArlNow: https://vimeo.com/923302481?share=copy

I have an engineering/science/data background, with a focus on bringing visibility and understandability to complex data systems. I think that is a skill the current school board is sorely lacking.

For example, APS pays about 20% more per student than our neighboring locales, and *no one on the board knows why*. You can read the report from their Budget Advisory Council for the last several years where they call this out. We pay our teachers less -- we're on average 5th out of 8 in the area.

What they have done instead is to make small cuts uniformly across all of the schools, to the point where many schools are on a tipping point. I spoke with one principal who is losing yet another special ed teacher spot, after losing multiple teacher and staff positions in the last few years. Because of the rules, they have to get rid of their youngest teacher, who is apparently amazing. Right now they can barely provide enough special ed services to meet the needs of at need students in their school. They were down one at the beginning of the year, and the classroom teachers were not able to manage the classes because those students became too disruptive. With that extra special ed teacher, they were able to provide help for those kids and now everyone in those classes can focus on learning.

What the current board has been doing has not been enough. When you ask them questions you get a response, but often not a real answer, especially on the why. When I encountered this, I wondered whether they didn't want to give an answer or if they didn't know the answer, and it quickly because obvious that they didn't know the answer.

This is why I'm running. Like many of you, my wife and I moved to Arlington for the great schools and the great community. But our schools are in trouble, and what the board is currently doing is not enough. I think my unique skills will help provide clarity to the decision making process, and I will not stop asking questions or pushing until we start providing real answers. 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. I will do something different. I may fail, but it will not be for lack of trying.

Thank you if you've gotten to the end.
I'd be happy to respond to any questions.
You can see more about me and my platforms at: https://chen4arlington.org, or send me an email at [e-mail].

What do you mean the board doesn't know why we spend more than other counties? Four-fifths of the budget is staff salaries and Arlington has lower class sizes and smaller schools than most other counties (i.e., more staff). You talk about special ed staffing above--this is all based on planning factors and the number of students in the school with IEPs. You're suggesting that each school be allocated different numbers of staff based on (something) instead of having a uniform staffing model? How would that work? Who determines how many staff are really needed at each school? And as for letting go the "youngest" teacher, you probably mean the teacher with the least tenure, which is how that works in every school district in the country. Not to mention that APS staff are offered positions elsewhere in the system if a position is eliminated at a specific school.

Maybe you should volunteer for some committees and learn some more about how school systems work before running for one of the five board seats--we don't need another board member who only started paying attention when their kids hit elementary school and is now going to learn on the job by asking questions that have already been asked and answered a thousand times. You might also learn about what a school board is responsible for versus the paid school administration, and why you don't get answers from the people you are asking.

DP but at least he got interested enough when his kids when to school to want to be this involved and run.

The thing about committees and asking questions that have been answered - they tend to always fall back into - well that’s just the way things work. Nowadays there are many technology advancements across many sectors - and this should make people rethink the old answers.

And at the end of the day the SB isn’t doing much and really he just has to vote yes along with everyone else. So for me, what the heck- if he wants to give it a try - why not?