APS School Board candidates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

ChenLing wrote:

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

(Reposting from the other similar thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/1185438.page. Please read my replies to various questions there.)

Hi. Honestly not a whole lot -- I've done the standard things that an involved and privileged 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.

Thank you for taking the time to post here. I think someone who is an outsider to the entrenched system, especially one with a quantitative background, would be a good addition to the school board.

You could be knowledgable about the system and not be "entrenched" and you could be an outsider and support everything the administration puts forward. What you want to understand about a candidate is their point of view on the major issues facing the school system, or at least how they will approach those issues. An outsider can be well informed, have clear priorities, and be able to explain how they would make decisions and work with the other board members to influence changes. If we learn during the campaign season that a candidate knows so little that they don't have a point of view or basis for evaluating policies, then that should be a major factor in the decision whether or not to vote for them.

An outsider will not even know enough to challenge APS. Pass.

[Anonymous]

Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

Commenting where? Please give an example of how he's naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

Commenting where? Please give an example of how he's naive.

Although his kids appear to be preschool/early elementary, he said, on a thread about cell phones, that when his kids are teenagers they won't be addicted to screens because he will make sure they only have flip phones

A parent of young kids telling parents of teenagers how to parent teenagers is second only to non-parents telling parents how to parent in terms of naivete--or maybe its worse, because if you are a parent, you should know what you don't know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

Commenting where? Please give an example of how he's naive.

Although his kids appear to be preschool/early elementary, he said, on a thread about cell phones, that when his kids are teenagers they won't be addicted to screens because he will make sure they only have flip phones

A parent of young kids telling parents of teenagers how to parent teenagers is second only to non-parents telling parents how to parent in terms of naivete--or maybe its worse, because if you are a parent, you should know what you don't know

Only naivete there, if he's a strong parent who actually adheres to his values and rules instead of caving like most, is assuming flip phones will still be available when his kids are teens. One can only hope that limited-capability phones do indeed become more popular over the next several years !

[Anonymous]

Reminds me of that horrible APE parent who raged all over AEM - BEFORE her kids even started K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

Commenting where? Please give an example of how he's naive.

Although his kids appear to be preschool/early elementary, he said, on a thread about cell phones, that when his kids are teenagers they won't be addicted to screens because he will make sure they only have flip phones

A parent of young kids telling parents of teenagers how to parent teenagers is second only to non-parents telling parents how to parent in terms of naivete--or maybe its worse, because if you are a parent, you should know what you don't know

Only naivete there, if he's a strong parent who actually adheres to his values and rules instead of caving like most, is assuming flip phones will still be available when his kids are teens. One can only hope that limited-capability phones do indeed become more popular over the next several years !

OK--I still think its a red flag. As a parent of boys, I would never give a girl mom advice on raising girls based on what I think I would do. I know how far I can apply my own experience and when I should listen to others. And since we're talking about someone who wants to be a politician, it matters that he's weighing in on things he hasn't experienced and doesn't have the awareness to recognize that he's not going to be able to dictate what his own kids do, let alone the actions of an entire school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of that horrible APE parent who raged all over AEM - BEFORE her kids even started K.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chen Ling is commenting on Facebook now. His comments are very naive.

Commenting where? Please give an example of how he's naive.

Although his kids appear to be preschool/early elementary, he said, on a thread about cell phones, that when his kids are teenagers they won't be addicted to screens because he will make sure they only have flip phones

A parent of young kids telling parents of teenagers how to parent teenagers is second only to non-parents telling parents how to parent in terms of naivete--or maybe its worse, because if you are a parent, you should know what you don't know

Only naivete there, if he's a strong parent who actually adheres to his values and rules instead of caving like most, is assuming flip phones will still be available when his kids are teens. One can only hope that limited-capability phones do indeed become more popular over the next several years !

OK--I still think its a red flag. As a parent of boys, I would never give a girl mom advice on raising girls based on what I think I would do. I know how far I can apply my own experience and when I should listen to others. And since we're talking about someone who wants to be a politician, it matters that he's weighing in on things he hasn't experienced and doesn't have the awareness to recognize that he's not going to be able to dictate what his own kids do, let alone the actions of an entire school system.

It's a huge red flag and a bad sign that he thinks he knows what's best for all of us when he actually has zero experience and no clue.

[Anonymous]

I just went and found Chen's comments on AEM, OMG! He's both naive and arrogant all at the same time. I have teens and he has littles, who the F does he think he is to give me advice on their cell phone use? He doesn't know what he doesn't know, but worse, he is so un self aware that he thinks he's an expert and is going to give advice to other parents based on a couple things he's read. This is NOT the guy we need on the school board. I will NOT be voting for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reminds me of that horrible APE parent who raged all over AEM - BEFORE her kids even started K.

APE has not taken over the School Health Advisory Board where they have turned their anti cell phone rampage into an actual recommendation to the school board. So if you don't like it, let the school board know please!

[Anonymous]

sorry typo, should have said *now*, not *not*

[Anonymous]

I understand APE hate, but they're right about phones. We're messing with our kids' brains. They should be banned from schools. Read some of the recent scientific studies on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand APE hate, but they're right about phones. We're messing with our kids' brains. They should be banned from schools. Read some of the recent scientific studies on this.

Ditto! This is making me like APE. The anti-APE-anti-cell-phoners are likely parents who just couldn't effectively manage their kids phone/digital device use and now justify it as impractical/impossible/unrealistic/or even a necessity. I don't care about cell phones per se; but I do care about cell phones in school and they should absolutely be banned during the school day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand APE hate, but they're right about phones. We're messing with our kids' brains. They should be banned from schools. Read some of the recent scientific studies on this.

Broken clock is right twice a day.

I agree that phones should be banned.

As should ignorant, irrational bullies from school work groups.