Paul Bartkowski School Board Candidate Forum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Complaining that rich people pay a lot of taxes and somehow are more deserving of a renovated building than other neighborhoods in the county is frankly tone deaf and gross.

You can advocate for a school to be moved up in the renovation queue because it desperately needs renovations (whether it needs them more than other schools, I have no idea). Tying renovations to McLean's tax base is unnecessary and makes you seem really out of touch.

You’re putting words in Paul’s mouth that he never said. What he has said, and which is absolutely true, is that the McLean pyramid sees relatively little in return for the taxes residents in the pyramid pay. Not that it is entitled to more than others because people may pay more in taxes (and many do not).

Those of us in the pyramid know that other schools that are newer and less overcrowded in McLean, like Justice and Madison, have received additions courtesy of FCPS outside the queue, and that the renovations that other schools in the queue have received are far more extensive than the cheap renovation that McLean received almost 20 years ago.

If Robyn Lady and her FCDC proxies think that her best strategy for getting elected is to attack Paul and other families in the pyramid as “entitled,” she will lose support among many families who otherwise tend to vote Democratic, and she will be in for a challenging four years on the School Board if she is elected. Attacking the voters who have tended to be the swing voters in Dranesville elections (since Herndon is more Democratic and Langley is more Republican) doesn’t seem like a great strategy.

[Anonymous]

Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complaining that rich people pay a lot of taxes and somehow are more deserving of a renovated building than other neighborhoods in the county is frankly tone deaf and gross.

You can advocate for a school to be moved up in the renovation queue because it desperately needs renovations (whether it needs them more than other schools, I have no idea). Tying renovations to McLean's tax base is unnecessary and makes you seem really out of touch.

You’re putting words in Paul’s mouth that he never said. What he has said, and which is absolutely true, is that the McLean pyramid sees relatively little in return for the taxes residents in the pyramid pay. Not that it is entitled to more than others because people may pay more in taxes (and many do not).

Those of us in the pyramid know that other schools that are newer and less overcrowded in McLean, like Justice and Madison, have received additions courtesy of FCPS outside the queue, and that the renovations that other schools in the queue have received are far more extensive than the cheap renovation that McLean received almost 20 years ago.

If Robyn Lady and her FCDC proxies think that her best strategy for getting elected is to attack Paul and other families in the pyramid as “entitled,” she will lose support among many families who otherwise tend to vote Democratic, and she will be in for a challenging four years on the School Board if she is elected. Attacking the voters who have tended to be the swing voters in Dranesville elections (since Herndon is more Democratic and Langley is more Republican) doesn’t seem like a great strategy.

Citation? Was this in person? Or on Twitter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complaining that rich people pay a lot of taxes and somehow are more deserving of a renovated building than other neighborhoods in the county is frankly tone deaf and gross.

You can advocate for a school to be moved up in the renovation queue because it desperately needs renovations (whether it needs them more than other schools, I have no idea). Tying renovations to McLean's tax base is unnecessary and makes you seem really out of touch.

You’re putting words in Paul’s mouth that he never said. What he has said, and which is absolutely true, is that the McLean pyramid sees relatively little in return for the taxes residents in the pyramid pay. Not that it is entitled to more than others because people may pay more in taxes (and many do not).

Those of us in the pyramid know that other schools that are newer and less overcrowded in McLean, like Justice and Madison, have received additions courtesy of FCPS outside the queue, and that the renovations that other schools in the queue have received are far more extensive than the cheap renovation that McLean received almost 20 years ago.

If Robyn Lady and her FCDC proxies think that her best strategy for getting elected is to attack Paul and other families in the pyramid as “entitled,” she will lose support among many families who otherwise tend to vote Democratic, and she will be in for a challenging four years on the School Board if she is elected. Attacking the voters who have tended to be the swing voters in Dranesville elections (since Herndon is more Democratic and Langley is more Republican) doesn’t seem like a great strategy.

Citation? Was this in person? Or on Twitter?

One need only read this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

Centreville is being expanded to 3000 seats according to the last CIP approved by the School Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

So are they taking the $150M that was earmarked for Western HS and doing Chantilly and CVHS expansions instead? Seems reasonable.

That would leave McLean as the most overcapacity HS that doesn't currently have an identified path to relieve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complaining that rich people pay a lot of taxes and somehow are more deserving of a renovated building than other neighborhoods in the county is frankly tone deaf and gross.

You can advocate for a school to be moved up in the renovation queue because it desperately needs renovations (whether it needs them more than other schools, I have no idea). Tying renovations to McLean's tax base is unnecessary and makes you seem really out of touch.

You’re putting words in Paul’s mouth that he never said. What he has said, and which is absolutely true, is that the McLean pyramid sees relatively little in return for the taxes residents in the pyramid pay. Not that it is entitled to more than others because people may pay more in taxes (and many do not).

Those of us in the pyramid know that other schools that are newer and less overcrowded in McLean, like Justice and Madison, have received additions courtesy of FCPS outside the queue, and that the renovations that other schools in the queue have received are far more extensive than the cheap renovation that McLean received almost 20 years ago.

If Robyn Lady and her FCDC proxies think that her best strategy for getting elected is to attack Paul and other families in the pyramid as “entitled,” she will lose support among many families who otherwise tend to vote Democratic, and she will be in for a challenging four years on the School Board if she is elected. Attacking the voters who have tended to be the swing voters in Dranesville elections (since Herndon is more Democratic and Langley is more Republican) doesn’t seem like a great strategy.

Citation? Was this in person? Or on Twitter?

One need only read this thread.

Uh. You do realize that thread isn’t Robyn Lady or FCDC, right?

Your decision on how to vote is driven by anonymous voters on a mommy website?

I always wonder why people vote for crappy politicians. I guess because they want to spite some random anonymous posters who said something they don’t like online. Totally makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

So are they taking the $150M that was earmarked for Western HS and doing Chantilly and CVHS expansions instead? Seems reasonable.

That would leave McLean as the most overcapacity HS that doesn't currently have an identified path to relieve it.

McLean HS is not even on the current renovation queue.

Robyn Lady will prevent anything being done to renovate McLean because she thinks McLean is too “privileged.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

So are they taking the $150M that was earmarked for Western HS and doing Chantilly and CVHS expansions instead? Seems reasonable.

That would leave McLean as the most overcapacity HS that doesn't currently have an identified path to relieve it.

No. They are still “earmarking” a large amount of money for a western HS they apparently have no intention of actually building, while also expanding Centreville to 3000 and leaving McLean with under 2000 permanent seats. The planning is incredibly poor, but don’t expect Robyn Lady to ever point that out.

And Lady is running to represent Dranesville, not Sully or Springfield, but you’d never know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

So are they taking the $150M that was earmarked for Western HS and doing Chantilly and CVHS expansions instead? Seems reasonable.

That would leave McLean as the most overcapacity HS that doesn't currently have an identified path to relieve it.

McLean HS is not even on the current renovation queue.

Robyn Lady will prevent anything being done to renovate McLean because she thinks McLean is too “privileged.”

Why is she even bothering to run in Dranesville, then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't know anything about PB before reading this forum, and as a moderate Herndon parent of 3 current students, I was undecided about the Dranesville SB race until now. Here are the reasons that I will NOT be voting for you on election day:

1. I am turned off by your lack of knowledge base on statements that you claim as truth. Case in point, you mention that SEL questions asked of 8th graders include questions about number of sexual partners. This was incorrect and when it was shown to you, you admitted that the list of questions was provided to you by a "concerned parent." Instead of confirming this information and learning that that set of questions is part of the Monitoring the Future study which has been conducted through Federal grants since 1975 with 8th, 10th and 12th graders to assess attitudes, behaviors and trends of risk behaviors among our nations' teens, you just blindly accepted what you are told. Bad form.

2. Your push on the renovation at McLean. You come off as a candidate who has one personal agenda to get what you want for your own kids and neighbors. Your comments about the SB taking McLean residents' copious tax dollars to spend elsewhere reeks of entitlement. BTW, despite overcrowding and an old building McLean still ranks as one of the best high schools in the state. They are clearly not suffering that much.

3. Speaking of entitlement, your positions on book banning, trans students and just getting back to reading writing and math also reek of wealthy entitlement. The reason that it is necessary for our schools to do so much work outside of traditional subject matters is that we have students who face significant barriers to learning that must be overcome before they can achieve their best. Not every student has a stable home life, or parents who have the capacity to support them, or strong English language skills, or the ability to pay for tutors to help them pass a class or take the SAT. Some struggle with identity issues, mental health issues, anxiety, stress, and more and these issues bleed into the classroom. Assuming that all children have the home resources to solve these issues is elitist. It is not as simple as "that stuff should be taught at home," or "parental rights." For many kids, this doesn't exist.

So thank you for opening this forum and sharing who you are. You have helped this voter make up my mind.

My older one graduated from a school located in Mclean this year. One of my younger ones will soon experience the same. The modular classrooms are not good speaking of it's basic function, as everyone knows. Unfortunately, the air conditioning systems were not good also in several classrooms. Some days in May and August, the classroom temperature rose to above 90F while outside was just around 80F. Some days in winter, the heating didn't work, it's very cold in the classroom. The school did work on it, but it still broke sometimes. I heard from a parent from another elementary school that the modular classrooms in their school were over 30 year's old. Sounds too horrible to be true. But yes, Mclean kids "are clearly not suffering that much".

[Anonymous]

I wish Paul would have raised issues about the poor capital planning in FCPS earlier his campaign. It’s probably too little, too late now. I guess Robyn and her friends will be happy to see McLean fall apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s explain it for the people in the back again. There are 24 HS pyramids in FCPS. Of the 24, the two projected to get the most additional students, and it’s due almost entirely to additional multi-family housing, are Marshall and McLean. Marshall is about at full capacity and has a temporary modular. McLean has been overcrowded for a decade and has trailers and a temporary modular. And both include areas in Dranesville.

What candidate running for School Board in Dranesville would not want to prioritize making sure Marshall and McLean have enough permanent seats to accommodate this recent and future growth? Jimmy Bierman, the Democrat running for the Dranesville seat on the Board of Supervisors, has certainly said this is a priority of his.

For some reason, Robyn Lady just doesn’t seem to get it, so she shows up at events in McLean and says the only thing she might do is try and make it easier for people in McLean unhappy about the overcrowding there to send their kids to other schools, including Herndon, which is over 10 miles away. [Ilryong Moon was at the event where she said this, and he visibly winced when she made these comments, as he could see how tone-deaf she was.].

I thought Chantilly HS and CVHS were the most over capacity schools, hence the need for the Western HS?

There will be no "Western HS". Don't you people understand this yet?
DP

So are they taking the $150M that was earmarked for Western HS and doing Chantilly and CVHS expansions instead? Seems reasonable.

That would leave McLean as the most overcapacity HS that doesn't currently have an identified path to relieve it.

McLean HS is not even on the current renovation queue.

Robyn Lady will prevent anything being done to renovate McLean because she thinks McLean is too “privileged.”

When did she say this?