GOP candidates for school board laugh at kid singing national anthem at school board meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate this. We’re stuck with the clown show of the progressive establishment who is so far off base in so many respects - or the clown show of Republicans who just want to “own the libs.”

There's no happy medium anymore.

If you're a D or R and attempt to compromise or disagree with the extreme of your own party than you're exiled and publicly and relentlessly torn apart.

I’m trying not to get too depressed about it because it’s early days still and there’s no telling who from the current board is going to run again and who’s not, and maybe there’s room for sensible Republicans or Democrats somewhere. But man. This is depressing.

Megan McLaughlin is a reasonable SB member. Ilryong Moon was a great at-large candidate that I wish would come back. Fairfax is a primarily democratic community so the best source of community action is speaking with the Fairfax Democratic party and voicing the kinds of traits we value in candidates. Solutions to problems with the SB are not found through the GOP by any means.

One challenge is that the Fairfax Democrats have made support of the current School Board a litmus test for membership. So if you generally align with the Democrats rather than the GOP, it's unclear there is a place for you in the FCDC, and the Democratic endorsements will still come from voting members of the FCDC, as no primaries open to the general public are held. In 2019, several more moderate Democrats, including Moon, were rejected by the FCDC in favor of candidates claiming to be more "progressive" (Cohen, Frisch, Omeish).

If you notice, though, you use past-tense verbs and are talking about 2019. My point is we need to pressure FCDC for endorsements for more experienced Democratic candidates focused on core issues--I honestly don't care whether they are moderate or progressive. The slight enough tilt towards Youngkin was a clear backlash against their approach, so they may be more receptive than they were in 2019.
(Personally, though, I'd rather have the worst of SB now over any GOP clowns--that party is no longer viable in my mind).

No. I am also describing the current practices of the FCDC. They seek to exclude from membership people who they know have disagreed with current School Board members, an approach that, unless reconsidered, will only lead to more candidates who are rewarded not because of their experience or expertise, but because they are party loyalists who say all the right words (and then get defended when they do the wrong things merely because the FCDC feels obligated to stand behind those whom they've previously endorsed). Youngkin's election should have been a wake-up call, but the echo chamber in their ranks is very real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate this. We’re stuck with the clown show of the progressive establishment who is so far off base in so many respects - or the clown show of Republicans who just want to “own the libs.”

There's no happy medium anymore.

If you're a D or R and attempt to compromise or disagree with the extreme of your own party than you're exiled and publicly and relentlessly torn apart.

I’m trying not to get too depressed about it because it’s early days still and there’s no telling who from the current board is going to run again and who’s not, and maybe there’s room for sensible Republicans or Democrats somewhere. But man. This is depressing.

Megan McLaughlin is a reasonable SB member. Ilryong Moon was a great at-large candidate that I wish would come back. Fairfax is a primarily democratic community so the best source of community action is speaking with the Fairfax Democratic party and voicing the kinds of traits we value in candidates. Solutions to problems with the SB are not found through the GOP by any means.

One challenge is that the Fairfax Democrats have made support of the current School Board a litmus test for membership. So if you generally align with the Democrats rather than the GOP, it's unclear there is a place for you in the FCDC, and the Democratic endorsements will still come from voting members of the FCDC, as no primaries open to the general public are held. In 2019, several more moderate Democrats, including Moon, were rejected by the FCDC in favor of candidates claiming to be more "progressive" (Cohen, Frisch, Omeish).

If you notice, though, you use past-tense verbs and are talking about 2019. My point is we need to pressure FCDC for endorsements for more experienced Democratic candidates focused on core issues--I honestly don't care whether they are moderate or progressive. The slight enough tilt towards Youngkin was a clear backlash against their approach, so they may be more receptive than they were in 2019.
(Personally, though, I'd rather have the worst of SB now over any GOP clowns--that party is no longer viable in my mind).

No. I am also describing the current practices of the FCDC. They seek to exclude from membership people who they know have disagreed with current School Board members, an approach that, unless reconsidered, will only lead to more candidates who are rewarded not because of their experience or expertise, but because they are party loyalists who say all the right words (and then get defended when they do the wrong things merely because the FCDC feels obligated to stand behind those whom they've previously endorsed). Youngkin's election should have been a wake-up call, but the echo chamber in their ranks is very real.

Well then isn't the only solution to vote for the GOP clownshow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop politicizing the school board.

This and only this. Keep your politics at home, cut the extra crap and get down to business. The #1 focus of the School Board should be how to provide a quality education to the children of Fairfax County. <— period

Want to rename a school? Great! That is a 10 minute announcement with pooled remarks from the Chair, not 60-75 minutes worth of remarks from every member of the SB. Those 60-75 minutes are better spent elsewhere.

Want to recognize a team or group? Fine! Do that at the beginning of the meeting, take a pic (stay put and take a pic with another group or person being recognized) and then sit down and take 5 minutes to tell us why they are being recognized. How many times have they held students there late and then not even gotten to them on the agenda? Do the pic, announce and get down to business!

…bunch of lollygaggers that get nothing done. To tie this into the topic title, my wish is for neither a GOP or Democratic candidate for the school board. I want someone who doesn’t care about which side of the aisle is going to give their campaign $500; I want candidates who want to improve education for students, working environments for staff/teachers and who recognizes that parents are part of the equation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't we get some "normal" candidates who don't aspire to higher office? I feel like my baseline is so low: believes schools should be open and doesn't mock the disabled.

The schools have been open a long time now. There were varying views at the time on how to handle the pandemic and anyone who expressed that there was certainty was wrong.

I don't think issues around opening or not are relevant now. I want to know how the SB will help handle the teacher and principal shortage, ensure that teaching candidates hired through alternative means have the kinds of support that will make them excellent teachers (maybe partnering with GMU rather than just having all internal support?), ensure strong equitable education across the schools, resist calls to ban books/teach history but also honor the diverse parent perspectives that make up this school district through workable solutions.

The decision to keep school buildings closed for a full year, and the subsequent harm to children, will sadly be relevant for a very, very long time.

Yes, but they made that decision in an very uncertain environment, with guidance from parents and others who all had varying opinions. I was a parent who wanted virtual in Spring 2020 and thought I wanted it in Fall 2020, but started to change my mind over the course of the fall as more data came in and by winter thought we should be going back. Which is what we did. Other parents wanted virtual to continue and so they did. Not everyone in FCPS thought the same and the SB had to consider all that.

The impacts of the pandemic (whether deaths and illnesses of parents and family members, lost income, virtual schooling) are going to be with us a long time. My brother is a Catholic HS teacher in a school that never closed--in a part of the country where public schools closed for a shorter time than FCPS-- and the mental health concerns and behavioral problems in their students are through the roof. I want SB people who understand the complexity of all that students experienced, not those who are just so sure others "got it wrong" and they know how to solve it. (Especially when they also reveal themselves to be ignorant, biased, and full of hubris!)

The made a decision that, in retrospect, was very wrong and harmful. They should be held accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to stop politicizing the school board.

This and only this. Keep your politics at home, cut the extra crap and get down to business. The #1 focus of the School Board should be how to provide a quality education to the children of Fairfax County. <— period

Want to rename a school? Great! That is a 10 minute announcement with pooled remarks from the Chair, not 60-75 minutes worth of remarks from every member of the SB. Those 60-75 minutes are better spent elsewhere.

Want to recognize a team or group? Fine! Do that at the beginning of the meeting, take a pic (stay put and take a pic with another group or person being recognized) and then sit down and take 5 minutes to tell us why they are being recognized. How many times have they held students there late and then not even gotten to them on the agenda? Do the pic, announce and get down to business!

…bunch of lollygaggers that get nothing done. To tie this into the topic title, my wish is for neither a GOP or Democratic candidate for the school board. I want someone who doesn’t care about which side of the aisle is going to give their campaign $500; I want candidates who want to improve education for students, working environments for staff/teachers and who recognizes that parents are part of the equation.

Moderates can't compete against candidates like Omeish who campaign on Twitter social justice likes or the other candidates getting the blessing from the Democrat Party. There's no path for a moderate focused on education issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me the GOP can come up with better than these two nitwits. BTW, I will not apologize for laughing at her pigtails.

If you look at the Fairfax GOP's official verified presence on Twitter, and its general behavior, that tells you that what you see out of these clowns is what you get.

The Fairfax GOP is deeply unserious, and that's a real shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me the GOP can come up with better than these two nitwits. BTW, I will not apologize for laughing at her pigtails.

If you look at the Fairfax GOP's official verified presence on Twitter, and its general behavior, that tells you that what you see out of these clowns is what you get.

The Fairfax GOP is deeply unserious, and that's a real shame.

A serious republican in Fairfax who wants to run for office is moving out of Fairfax to run

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate this. We’re stuck with the clown show of the progressive establishment who is so far off base in so many respects - or the clown show of Republicans who just want to “own the libs.”

There's no happy medium anymore.

If you're a D or R and attempt to compromise or disagree with the extreme of your own party than you're exiled and publicly and relentlessly torn apart.

I’m trying not to get too depressed about it because it’s early days still and there’s no telling who from the current board is going to run again and who’s not, and maybe there’s room for sensible Republicans or Democrats somewhere. But man. This is depressing.

Megan McLaughlin is a reasonable SB member. Ilryong Moon was a great at-large candidate that I wish would come back. Fairfax is a primarily democratic community so the best source of community action is speaking with the Fairfax Democratic party and voicing the kinds of traits we value in candidates. Solutions to problems with the SB are not found through the GOP by any means.

One challenge is that the Fairfax Democrats have made support of the current School Board a litmus test for membership. So if you generally align with the Democrats rather than the GOP, it's unclear there is a place for you in the FCDC, and the Democratic endorsements will still come from voting members of the FCDC, as no primaries open to the general public are held. In 2019, several more moderate Democrats, including Moon, were rejected by the FCDC in favor of candidates claiming to be more "progressive" (Cohen, Frisch, Omeish).

If you notice, though, you use past-tense verbs and are talking about 2019. My point is we need to pressure FCDC for endorsements for more experienced Democratic candidates focused on core issues--I honestly don't care whether they are moderate or progressive. The slight enough tilt towards Youngkin was a clear backlash against their approach, so they may be more receptive than they were in 2019.
(Personally, though, I'd rather have the worst of SB now over any GOP clowns--that party is no longer viable in my mind).

No. I am also describing the current practices of the FCDC. They seek to exclude from membership people who they know have disagreed with current School Board members, an approach that, unless reconsidered, will only lead to more candidates who are rewarded not because of their experience or expertise, but because they are party loyalists who say all the right words (and then get defended when they do the wrong things merely because the FCDC feels obligated to stand behind those whom they've previously endorsed). Youngkin's election should have been a wake-up call, but the echo chamber in their ranks is very real.

Well then isn't the only solution to vote for the GOP clownshow?

No. I would choose ANY of the existing SB members over the GOP clowns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't we get some "normal" candidates who don't aspire to higher office? I feel like my baseline is so low: believes schools should be open and doesn't mock the disabled.

The schools have been open a long time now. There were varying views at the time on how to handle the pandemic and anyone who expressed that there was certainty was wrong.

I don't think issues around opening or not are relevant now. I want to know how the SB will help handle the teacher and principal shortage, ensure that teaching candidates hired through alternative means have the kinds of support that will make them excellent teachers (maybe partnering with GMU rather than just having all internal support?), ensure strong equitable education across the schools, resist calls to ban books/teach history but also honor the diverse parent perspectives that make up this school district through workable solutions.

The decision to keep school buildings closed for a full year, and the subsequent harm to children, will sadly be relevant for a very, very long time.

Yes, but they made that decision in an very uncertain environment, with guidance from parents and others who all had varying opinions. I was a parent who wanted virtual in Spring 2020 and thought I wanted it in Fall 2020, but started to change my mind over the course of the fall as more data came in and by winter thought we should be going back. Which is what we did. Other parents wanted virtual to continue and so they did. Not everyone in FCPS thought the same and the SB had to consider all that.

The impacts of the pandemic (whether deaths and illnesses of parents and family members, lost income, virtual schooling) are going to be with us a long time. My brother is a Catholic HS teacher in a school that never closed--in a part of the country where public schools closed for a shorter time than FCPS-- and the mental health concerns and behavioral problems in their students are through the roof. I want SB people who understand the complexity of all that students experienced, not those who are just so sure others "got it wrong" and they know how to solve it. (Especially when they also reveal themselves to be ignorant, biased, and full of hubris!)

The made a decision that, in retrospect, was very wrong and harmful. They should be held accountable.

+1 They faced a very difficult and consequential choice and they chose wrong. I'm not going to forget that come election day.

[Anonymous]

Clearly, many of you didn’t bother to read the entire article in the OP. The two people in question aren’t affiliated with or endorsed by the Fairfax GOP. Do better.

7News reached out to the Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee Steve Knotts regarding this incident:

"The 'Shadow Board' on YouTube is not run by, nor affiliated with, the Fairfax GOP. We do not condone the laughter seen on that video. It was offensive, as those involved have acknowledged. The Fairfax GOP does not yet have any endorsed candidates for next year's nonpartisan elections. Candidates are of course welcome to seek our endorsement, however, our members will not vote on those endorsements until a later date — most likely not until next year. As chairman, I am committed to a fair process for all potential 2023 endorsees. Meanwhile, our committee is focused on this year's all-important midterm elections — it is vital that we elect Karina Lipsman, Hung Cao and Jim Myles in Virginia's 8th, 10th and 11th Congressional Districts."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Clearly, many of you didn’t bother to read the entire article in the OP. The two people in question aren’t affiliated with or endorsed by the Fairfax GOP. Do better.

7News reached out to the Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee Steve Knotts regarding this incident:

"The 'Shadow Board' on YouTube is not run by, nor affiliated with, the Fairfax GOP. We do not condone the laughter seen on that video. It was offensive, as those involved have acknowledged. The Fairfax GOP does not yet have any endorsed candidates for next year's nonpartisan elections. Candidates are of course welcome to seek our endorsement, however, our members will not vote on those endorsements until a later date — most likely not until next year. As chairman, I am committed to a fair process for all potential 2023 endorsees. Meanwhile, our committee is focused on this year's all-important midterm elections — it is vital that we elect Karina Lipsman, Hung Cao and Jim Myles in Virginia's 8th, 10th and 11th Congressional Districts."

My bad, Steve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't we get some "normal" candidates who don't aspire to higher office? I feel like my baseline is so low: believes schools should be open and doesn't mock the disabled.

The schools have been open a long time now. There were varying views at the time on how to handle the pandemic and anyone who expressed that there was certainty was wrong.

I don't think issues around opening or not are relevant now. I want to know how the SB will help handle the teacher and principal shortage, ensure that teaching candidates hired through alternative means have the kinds of support that will make them excellent teachers (maybe partnering with GMU rather than just having all internal support?), ensure strong equitable education across the schools, resist calls to ban books/teach history but also honor the diverse parent perspectives that make up this school district through workable solutions.

The decision to keep school buildings closed for a full year, and the subsequent harm to children, will sadly be relevant for a very, very long time.

Yes, but they made that decision in an very uncertain environment, with guidance from parents and others who all had varying opinions. I was a parent who wanted virtual in Spring 2020 and thought I wanted it in Fall 2020, but started to change my mind over the course of the fall as more data came in and by winter thought we should be going back. Which is what we did. Other parents wanted virtual to continue and so they did. Not everyone in FCPS thought the same and the SB had to consider all that.

The impacts of the pandemic (whether deaths and illnesses of parents and family members, lost income, virtual schooling) are going to be with us a long time. My brother is a Catholic HS teacher in a school that never closed--in a part of the country where public schools closed for a shorter time than FCPS-- and the mental health concerns and behavioral problems in their students are through the roof. I want SB people who understand the complexity of all that students experienced, not those who are just so sure others "got it wrong" and they know how to solve it. (Especially when they also reveal themselves to be ignorant, biased, and full of hubris!)

The made a decision that, in retrospect, was very wrong and harmful. They should be held accountable.

+1 They faced a very difficult and consequential choice and they chose wrong. I'm not going to forget that come election day.

Yeah, you can't know that without understanding the counterfactual. Keeping schools open when the more dangerous early variants of COVID were running rampant might have had an even more devastating effect on the students who were forced to go to school. the adults who were forced to run the schools, and the multi-generational households that all of these people go home to every day.

It is any school or school system's most sacred duty to protect its students' safety to the fullest extent possible. And yes, this is an even more important duty than educating those students. Nearly as important is protecting their employees, especially for a public school system.

Unless you have the ability to produce a simulation that reliably confirms that close to zero additional student, staff, or family deaths would have taken place if schools had been open as fully as they've been for over a year at the beginning of the pandemic, you have no basis to make your assertion.

Be glad your kids are alive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Clearly, many of you didn’t bother to read the entire article in the OP. The two people in question aren’t affiliated with or endorsed by the Fairfax GOP. Do better.

7News reached out to the Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee Steve Knotts regarding this incident:

"The 'Shadow Board' on YouTube is not run by, nor affiliated with, the Fairfax GOP. We do not condone the laughter seen on that video. It was offensive, as those involved have acknowledged. The Fairfax GOP does not yet have any endorsed candidates for next year's nonpartisan elections. Candidates are of course welcome to seek our endorsement, however, our members will not vote on those endorsements until a later date — most likely not until next year. As chairman, I am committed to a fair process for all potential 2023 endorsees. Meanwhile, our committee is focused on this year's all-important midterm elections — it is vital that we elect Karina Lipsman, Hung Cao and Jim Myles in Virginia's 8th, 10th and 11th Congressional Districts."

I can't speak to the other two, but Hung Cao has already shown that he is not ready for prime time. He makes Herschel Walker look like a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Clearly, many of you didn’t bother to read the entire article in the OP. The two people in question aren’t affiliated with or endorsed by the Fairfax GOP. Do better.

7News reached out to the Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee Steve Knotts regarding this incident:

"The 'Shadow Board' on YouTube is not run by, nor affiliated with, the Fairfax GOP. We do not condone the laughter seen on that video. It was offensive, as those involved have acknowledged. The Fairfax GOP does not yet have any endorsed candidates for next year's nonpartisan elections. Candidates are of course welcome to seek our endorsement, however, our members will not vote on those endorsements until a later date — most likely not until next year. As chairman, I am committed to a fair process for all potential 2023 endorsees. Meanwhile, our committee is focused on this year's all-important midterm elections — it is vital that we elect Karina Lipsman, Hung Cao and Jim Myles in Virginia's 8th, 10th and 11th Congressional Districts."

My bad, Steve.

Not PP (IMHO, all of these people are loons), but I believe it's actually the farther-right Republicans, not the Dems, trying to oust these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't we get some "normal" candidates who don't aspire to higher office? I feel like my baseline is so low: believes schools should be open and doesn't mock the disabled.

The schools have been open a long time now. There were varying views at the time on how to handle the pandemic and anyone who expressed that there was certainty was wrong.

I don't think issues around opening or not are relevant now. I want to know how the SB will help handle the teacher and principal shortage, ensure that teaching candidates hired through alternative means have the kinds of support that will make them excellent teachers (maybe partnering with GMU rather than just having all internal support?), ensure strong equitable education across the schools, resist calls to ban books/teach history but also honor the diverse parent perspectives that make up this school district through workable solutions.

The decision to keep school buildings closed for a full year, and the subsequent harm to children, will sadly be relevant for a very, very long time.

Yes, but they made that decision in an very uncertain environment, with guidance from parents and others who all had varying opinions. I was a parent who wanted virtual in Spring 2020 and thought I wanted it in Fall 2020, but started to change my mind over the course of the fall as more data came in and by winter thought we should be going back. Which is what we did. Other parents wanted virtual to continue and so they did. Not everyone in FCPS thought the same and the SB had to consider all that.

The impacts of the pandemic (whether deaths and illnesses of parents and family members, lost income, virtual schooling) are going to be with us a long time. My brother is a Catholic HS teacher in a school that never closed--in a part of the country where public schools closed for a shorter time than FCPS-- and the mental health concerns and behavioral problems in their students are through the roof. I want SB people who understand the complexity of all that students experienced, not those who are just so sure others "got it wrong" and they know how to solve it. (Especially when they also reveal themselves to be ignorant, biased, and full of hubris!)

The made a decision that, in retrospect, was very wrong and harmful. They should be held accountable.

I disagree. The pandemic is what is harmful. They are not accountable for that.