Steve Stuban is running for FFX school board member-at-large

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are other at-large candidates who are more than prepared to take on Jack Dale; know more than Stuban does about other issues that the School Board has to handle; and aren't dealing with such difficult personal tragedy.

I wish him the best, but don't see him as especially qualified, and would be concerned that he would be unable to give the position adequate attention. I have been around adults with ALS. It is a truly debilitating disease that demands a great deal of other family members.

Vellkoff, McElveen, Dai-Kendall and Brown-Kaplan would all be better in my opinion, and people wouldn't go around treating them with kid gloves because of their personal circumstances, either. Stuban couldn't even get the local Republicans to endorse him. I'd be happy if he were on a task force on student discipline, but that's about it.

1. You must not have been participating in or watching closely our community's interactions with Jack Dale et al. over the last several years. If you had, you'd know that the FCPS administration has not used "kid gloves" around Steve or other community leaders (such as Tina Hone on the school board, or members of organizations championing reforms on a host of issues, such as Fairgrade, Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform and the Fairax Education Coalition).

2. You don't seem to know the critical role that Sandy Stuban (Steve's wife) has played in bringing about change to FCPS's draconian disciplary policies. (See, for example, the detailed question that Sandy asked Dale and school board member Janie Strauss when they both appeared on a one hour segment of the "Kojo in Your Neighborhood" radio show in McLean, VA a couple months back.)

3. With all due respect to the other at-large school board candidates, they are unlikely to bring the same rigor and persistence in facing down the FCPS administration when necessary. One of the candidates, Ted Velkoff, is even a protege of Kathy Smith, who has been one of Dale's enablers.

4. Steve Stuban received the personal endorsement of Steve Greenburg, President of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT), based on an interview that required Steve to present his views in detail on numerous issues affecting our schools. Such an endorsement is telling: Mr. Greenburg would not have provided it if he did not believe that Steve was very well versed on the issues or that Steve would do a fantastic job on behalf of our entire community.

5. While everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, one questions the motives behind your statement that you don't find Steve to be especially qualified which -- regardless of whether you wish to support Steve or not -- objectively is without basis.

6. As for Steve giving the school board position adequate attention, you've got to be kidding me. Steve and his wife Sandy have been working together for 16 years to live with ALS. They have nursing care 365 days a year and, most importantly, it was in large part due to Sandy's strong urging that Steve answered the call of many friends and supporters that he run for a position to serve our community on the school board.

7. Finally, if you'd been following the campaign, you'd know that Steve, by virtue of his position in the government, has special restrictions -- under the Hatch Act -- that also apply to federal judges, intelligence and law enforcement officials, and senior executives, that preclude him from actively pursuing the endorsements of the two major political parties. As such, it is quite remarkable that he nonetheless narrowly missed receiving an endorsement of one of the parties, even though he could not speak (or provide information) to, or otherwise materially interact with, the party electors.

[Anonymous]

If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

[Anonymous]

- Here's the link to Steve's campaign website:

http://www.stubanforschoolboard.com/

- Here's the link to Steve's campaign Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1383241507#!/pages/Steve-Stuban-for-School-Board-at-large/240315545997608

Please click on these links so you can see why Steve is running for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Stuban seems like a very qualified candidate and I will consider voting for him. I'm very sorry for the loss of his DS. One of my brothers committed suicide more than 20 years ago due, in part, to a zero tolerance policy. I also have kids with special needs/learning disabilities and the zero tolerance policy is worrisome to me. I also know how difficult it can be dealing with the school system. Although there are some amazing staff, there are also people for whom this is a job and they fail to recognize that school is far more than just a job to the students. At this age, school is part of their life. Of course, there's much more to being a school board member than dealing with the zero tolerance discipline policy and it seems Mr. Stuban is very capable of dealing with that. Personal tragedy has caused many people to be come more civically/politically active and I admire him and his family for their work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

Hold your venom; it's unbecoming. You seem intimidated by the prospect of Steve shining a light with his analytical abilities and persistence on the inner workings of FCPS. The transparency and accountability that Steve, and like-minded returning board members (of both parties) such as Sandy Evans and Patty Reed, as well as candidates (of both parties) such as Megan McLaughlin, Elizabeth Schultz and Louise Epstein, will bring to all matters that the FCPS school board addresses are long overdue. Advocate for your own candidate(s), if that's your goal. My sense is that you have a different agenda and, as I stated in a previous post, I question your motives. Who are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

Hold your venom; it's unbecoming. You seem intimidated by the prospect of Steve shining a light with his analytical abilities and persistence on the inner workings of FCPS. The transparency and accountability that Steve, and like-minded returning board members (of both parties) such as Sandy Evans and Patty Reed, as well as candidates (of both parties) such as Megan McLaughlin, Elizabeth Schultz and Louise Epstein, will bring to all matters that the FCPS school board addresses are long overdue. Advocate for your own candidate(s), if that's your goal. My sense is that you have a different agenda and, as I stated in a previous post, I question your motives. Who are you?

Not Stuban or his campaign manager. I don't like being brow-beaten or insulted because I support other candidates.

[Anonymous]

- Here's the link to Steve's campaign website:

http://www.stubanforschoolboard.com/

- Here's the link to Steve's campaign Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1383241507...Board-at-large/240315545997608

Please click on these links so you can see why Steve is running for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

OP here. I find your characterization incredibly insulting. Like another PP, I have a child with special needs and becoming acquainted with the FFX disciplinary policy as a result of Nick Stuban's death has had me sick to my stomach everytime I think about it. We moved here less than a year before it happened and had I known about this beforehand, we might not have settled in Fairfax County, but here we are. I worry about my child being exploited by not so well-intentioned peers and about being victimized by a system reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm incredibly grateful for the steps Steve and Sandy Stuban have taken to remedy this situation, and I can assure you that if I had been in their situation, my catharsis, as you call it, would have been in drink or much worse, so I salute their courage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

OP here. I find your characterization incredibly insulting. Like another PP, I have a child with special needs and becoming acquainted with the FFX disciplinary policy as a result of Nick Stuban's death has had me sick to my stomach everytime I think about it. We moved here less than a year before it happened and had I known about this beforehand, we might not have settled in Fairfax County, but here we are. I worry about my child being exploited by not so well-intentioned peers and about being victimized by a system reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm incredibly grateful for the steps Steve and Sandy Stuban have taken to remedy this situation, and I can assure you that if I had been in their situation, my catharsis, as you call it, would have been in drink or much worse, so I salute their courage.

Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and kind post directly above. I hope that your son or daughter is doing well with his or her education, and generally. In my experience, many (and perhaps most) extended families have such special needs. I know that we do, as one of my cousins is severely autistic and developmentally disabled. We need a school system in which, as Steve Stuban says, "Every Student Matters." FCPS does many things quite and, most importantly, it has a remarkable group of dedicated and caring professional educators. However, its school board needs to lead, in a transparent manner, while genuinely soliciting community input and undertaking data based analyses (as opposed to prejuding appropriate next steps based on hunches or other unsubstantiated bases). I have known Steve Stuban for 30 years and know that he will provide the leadership our children and families deserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

OP here. I find your characterization incredibly insulting. Like another PP, I have a child with special needs and becoming acquainted with the FFX disciplinary policy as a result of Nick Stuban's death has had me sick to my stomach everytime I think about it. We moved here less than a year before it happened and had I known about this beforehand, we might not have settled in Fairfax County, but here we are. I worry about my child being exploited by not so well-intentioned peers and about being victimized by a system reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm incredibly grateful for the steps Steve and Sandy Stuban have taken to remedy this situation, and I can assure you that if I had been in their situation, my catharsis, as you call it, would have been in drink or much worse, so I salute their courage.

Judging from the first post on this thread and those that followed, it seems pretty clear that Stuban and his manager are trying to distinguish him from the other at-large candidates by citing his personal history. Does anyone claim that they are moved to tears because Nell Hurley is running in Braddock or Louise Epstein is taking on Janie Strauss in Dranesville?

Maybe that strategy will succeed; obviously anyone who professes to be less than bowled over by Stuban's pedestrian campaign positions then gets called insensitive or worse. But unless and until he does more to distinguish himself on the merits, I'm hard pressed to think he deserves anything other than our sympathy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

OP here. I find your characterization incredibly insulting. Like another PP, I have a child with special needs and becoming acquainted with the FFX disciplinary policy as a result of Nick Stuban's death has had me sick to my stomach everytime I think about it. We moved here less than a year before it happened and had I known about this beforehand, we might not have settled in Fairfax County, but here we are. I worry about my child being exploited by not so well-intentioned peers and about being victimized by a system reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm incredibly grateful for the steps Steve and Sandy Stuban have taken to remedy this situation, and I can assure you that if I had been in their situation, my catharsis, as you call it, would have been in drink or much worse, so I salute their courage.

Judging from the first post on this thread and those that followed, it seems pretty clear that Stuban and his manager are trying to distinguish him from the other at-large candidates by citing his personal history. Does anyone claim that they are moved to tears because Nell Hurley is running in Braddock or Louise Epstein is taking on Janie Strauss in Dranesville?

Maybe that strategy will succeed; obviously anyone who professes to be less than bowled over by Stuban's pedestrian campaign positions then gets called insensitive or worse. But unless and until he does more to distinguish himself on the merits, I'm hard pressed to think he deserves anything other than our sympathy.

The one bringing up Steve Stuban's personal tragedy time and again is you, not me. Your chutzpah in doing so is breathtaking -- even shameful. Relatedly, please spare us your "crocodile sympathy tears." Although you've not identified yourself, I'm pretty sure I know who you are. After all, there aren't many people who would spend all day being a provacateur on this thread; you clearly have an axe to grind. It seems to me that you are achieving some catharsis. Good for you and good riddance. By the way, I notice that the only "support" to another candidate you provided is the faint praise you gave to Ryan McElveen, who by all accounts is a decent and intelligent person. Again, this further substantiates my view that you are not on this thread to provide anything substantive or constructive. Funny thing is, your presence is self-defeating. By the way, I am not Steve Stuban's campaign manager, but I have known him for many years and can personally vouch for his integrity and mental toughness. He will continue to apply those attributes in service to the citizens of Fairfax County. One more thing: I'll continue to remain "above the fray," but make no mistake, Steve and his many supporters (like me) are in this campaign for the long haul, your provocations notwithstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Stuban was among the best candidates, the Hatch Act restrictions would not have prevented a Republican endorsement. As your posts indicate, candidates and their supporters readily find ways to engage in advocacy. No such endorsement was forthcoming.

Even a candidate as young as McIlveen has a track record of speaking out on important issues - starting in high school and continuing in college and graduate school - of longer duration than Stuban's. The School Board should needs to be more than catharsis for a devastated father.

OP here. I find your characterization incredibly insulting. Like another PP, I have a child with special needs and becoming acquainted with the FFX disciplinary policy as a result of Nick Stuban's death has had me sick to my stomach everytime I think about it. We moved here less than a year before it happened and had I known about this beforehand, we might not have settled in Fairfax County, but here we are. I worry about my child being exploited by not so well-intentioned peers and about being victimized by a system reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition. I'm incredibly grateful for the steps Steve and Sandy Stuban have taken to remedy this situation, and I can assure you that if I had been in their situation, my catharsis, as you call it, would have been in drink or much worse, so I salute their courage.

Judging from the first post on this thread and those that followed, it seems pretty clear that Stuban and his manager are trying to distinguish him from the other at-large candidates by citing his personal history. Does anyone claim that they are moved to tears because Nell Hurley is running in Braddock or Louise Epstein is taking on Janie Strauss in Dranesville?

Maybe that strategy will succeed; obviously anyone who professes to be less than bowled over by Stuban's pedestrian campaign positions then gets called insensitive or worse. But unless and until he does more to distinguish himself on the merits, I'm hard pressed to think he deserves anything other than our sympathy.

OP again. I'm starting to regret posting what was an emotional reaction to learning about the candidacy of someone whose actions I have been very grateful for over the last few months, given the direction you are trying to direct this thread in. I guess it was politically naive on my part, but I certainly don't claim to be a politically savvy person.

It appears indeed that someone else who's closely associated with Steve Stuban has taken this opportunity to introduce his candidate, and I have no problem with that. I can assure you, however, that I'm not Steve Stuban, that I've never met him or even been in his presence, and based on the picture on his site, that I am younger, a lot cuter (sorry) and of the opposite sex. I have been living in Fairfax for less than two years and have never voted in a school board election and did not know until today that there was a partisan element to them. I generally tend to vote for Democrats, but in this area I plan on voting for whoever seems to be the best candidate for our schools, regardless of partisan affiliation (and if that ends up being our next Republican president twenty years down the line, oh well, so be it).

I looked at Mr. McIlveen's site after your post, and he seems to support laudable goals, such as the elimination of sports fees, or healthy lunches, to name a few, which are wonderful. But these issues rank somewhat lower on my totem pole right now. Why don't you present a reasoned argument for the candidate(s) you support instead of attacking the person you call "Steve Stuban's campaign manager" or characterizing Steve Stuban as merely a disconsolate father with unreasonable aspirations? I haven't seen any debates on the merits of any position or issue in this election in any forum and anyone who reads this might benefit.

[Anonymous]

Here's the link to the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT) website: http://fcft.org/. FCFT has posted the responses of all school board candidates to its endorsement survey. Click the link on the left side bar to read the candidates' responses. Please judge for yourself which candidates would best serve the needs of Fairfax County. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, OP, for your thoughtful comments. I hope that you and the rest of Fairfax County's voters find the FCFT website link to candidate surveys above helpful.

[Anonymous]

- Here's the link to Steve Stuban's campaign website:

http://www.stubanforschoolboard.com/

- Here's the link to Steve Stuban's campaign Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1383241507...Board-at-large/240315545997608

Please click on these links so you can see why Steve is running for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board. Thanks.