Falls Church City School Board Candidates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the true number of people in FCC who support Ilya won't be apparent until after the polls close. I know several people who plan to vote for him but would never put a sign in their yard and aren't public about their support. Candidates like Ilya generally come in last in FCC elections, but enough people are upset about last year that he may sneak onto the Board.

That said, he can't actually DO anything if he is elected unless three other people vote with him, and he won't have a majority to do anything. If elected, I suspect he'd make the other 6 board members be even more extreme in their support for anything he doesn't like, which honestly scares me more.

At this point, people need to get to know the other 6 candidates and start discussing them, because Ilya is currently sucking all the oxygen out of the room and there are 6 other really interesting people on the ballot!

I'll start: FCNP endorsed Lori Silverman, Kathleen Tysse, Jerrod Anderson, and David Ortiz. Anyone know much about them?

Bumping this up. I haven’t had much exposure to the candidates, and would welcome thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the true number of people in FCC who support Ilya won't be apparent until after the polls close. I know several people who plan to vote for him but would never put a sign in their yard and aren't public about their support. Candidates like Ilya generally come in last in FCC elections, but enough people are upset about last year that he may sneak onto the Board.

That said, he can't actually DO anything if he is elected unless three other people vote with him, and he won't have a majority to do anything. If elected, I suspect he'd make the other 6 board members be even more extreme in their support for anything he doesn't like, which honestly scares me more.

At this point, people need to get to know the other 6 candidates and start discussing them, because Ilya is currently sucking all the oxygen out of the room and there are 6 other really interesting people on the ballot!

I'll start: FCNP endorsed Lori Silverman, Kathleen Tysse, Jerrod Anderson, and David Ortiz. Anyone know much about them?

Bumping this up. I haven’t had much exposure to the candidates, and would welcome thoughts.

I worked on PTA with Kathleen and she's very nice, always been involved but I personally think she represents the status quo.

I also know David Ortiz. He's very, very smart. Went to Princeton, has a PhD in electrical engineering, pretty high up in energy policy. I don't know much about his school board politics but he's pro-masks, liberal, etc. So I'd trust him to make sound decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the true number of people in FCC who support Ilya won't be apparent until after the polls close. I know several people who plan to vote for him but would never put a sign in their yard and aren't public about their support. Candidates like Ilya generally come in last in FCC elections, but enough people are upset about last year that he may sneak onto the Board.

That said, he can't actually DO anything if he is elected unless three other people vote with him, and he won't have a majority to do anything. If elected, I suspect he'd make the other 6 board members be even more extreme in their support for anything he doesn't like, which honestly scares me more.

At this point, people need to get to know the other 6 candidates and start discussing them, because Ilya is currently sucking all the oxygen out of the room and there are 6 other really interesting people on the ballot!

I'll start: FCNP endorsed Lori Silverman, Kathleen Tysse, Jerrod Anderson, and David Ortiz. Anyone know much about them?

Bumping this up. I haven’t had much exposure to the candidates, and would welcome thoughts.

Yes, would be good to hear about the views of the other candidates. This Shapiro character seems to be either loved or not (probably a little of the later). Personally, I wouldn’t vote for someone who decided to trash our schools when their kids weren’t even attending them but maybe that’s just me.

The Shapiro “no mask in schools” during a pandemic agenda seems to be one his key proposals based on his Twitter account. What about the rest of candidates. Do we have any info on them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Look at his Twitter account. He loves Fox News and thinks kids in school shouldn’t be required to wear masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at his Twitter account. He loves Fox News and thinks kids in school shouldn’t be required to wear masks.

He's a libertarian- not the same as a republican. I honestly don't mind seeing him or any of the candidates rattle some cages. I don't like that the community had 0 voice. Not a single person on the school board took the community's side on any issue.

With the numbers the way they are right now we will get at least 1 or 2 dissenters and I'm happy with that.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I got informed about this forum and there is some illuminating conversations going on.

I think it would be good hear from all the candidates on here.

Seems to be dominated by Mr Shapiro. I’ve always suspected there might a slightly more right leaning undercurrent in the little city. For all the BLM, renaming of schools etc as soon as things affects people detrimentally (such as the schools closed during a pandemic) it’s a little more “well that’s not how it should be”.

I’m a little suspicious of Mr Shapiro’s candidacy. He bemoans he wasn’t elected (twice), which I’ll assume was because he didn’t have any kids in the schools and then uses his media connections to bemoan (again) why for some reason he wasn’t seen as a worthy.

We need to hear from those candidates who probably genuinely want to better and help the school system. Not belittle it nationally to massage their inflated egos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

Exactly - FCCPS was way ahead of the rest of the region for returning. Hybrid by Feb, 5 days (well, 4 with asynchronous Wed) not too long after. I don't agree with everything the SB has done or decided, but I know they moved mountains in order to lead the region in returning.

I'm liberal but not at all opposed to having conservative voices in the mix. Shapiro bringing his cause to WSJ was an awful move if he wants to win votes across the aisle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

You do realize that 1) the name change didn’t cost a million and 2) our schools were the first to go back in the whole region, right? Oh and also all schools in VA moved their start date to before Labor Day once the law changed. People are delusional.

As a parent of a FCCPS young elementary school student I’m tired of hearing people push this talking point. Loudon County elementary school students were back in school before us and most of the other nova districts were just a couple of weeks behind. in the meanwhile these school districts were dealing with coordinating across dozens of disparate schools with far greater complicating factors. The fact that despite its tiny area, substantial resources and only 4 schools to manage, FCCPS still didn't open for the vast majority of its students until spring 2021 is a failure in leadership- not something to brag about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:former PTA president Kathleen Tysse announced she is running. She's great. Definitely will vote for her.

She was recommended to me by a friend of mine.

[Anonymous]

Based on his most recent letter to the FCNP, Mr. Shapiro certainly does not seem to take criticism well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at his Twitter account. He loves Fox News and thinks kids in school shouldn’t be required to wear masks.

He's a libertarian- not the same as a republican. I honestly don't mind seeing him or any of the candidates rattle some cages. I don't like that the community had 0 voice. Not a single person on the school board took the community's side on any issue.

With the numbers the way they are right now we will get at least 1 or 2 dissenters and I'm happy with that.

I agree. Let's get a mix of views and voices. Totalitarian leftist group think is unhealthy for everyone. Our children, grandchildren, teachers, and administrators deserve better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To defend Shapiro, aside from a small amount of PTA volunteering, I too didn't give a sh$t about the school board until they pushed our start date before Labor Day, renamed our schools to the tune of a million dollars and kept the schools closed. Frankly he'd be one of 8 and it's good to have a more conservative opinion given the liberal activists that were on the board for the last 4 years.

I’m assuming you weren’t trying to get voted on the school board (twice) like Shapiro was last year with no kids in the schools? Agree, good to have differing views. Everyone is entitled to their say. “Liberal activists” is a little harsh though.

A genuine question here: how did the school remaining cost a million?

It's really not - the entire town was against the name change and they did it anyway. The town was also against a pre-Labor Day start. Activists oush an agenda on everyone else. That's why people are upset.

It cost $486K to rename Jeb Stuart. Round up and add inflation for two schools named after patriots. The school board had a joke of a cost estimate under 100K so they didn't have to get it approved.

Renaming the schools did not cost anywhere near the cost to change Jeb Stuart, partly because there was already a new HS being built so the costs of changing signs, etc, was already built in.

The entire town was not against a pre-Labor Day start. Most schools in this country and the region start before Labor Day. Last year, Labor Day was extremely late and starting after Labor Day plus having 2 weeks off for Christmas (which I'm opposed to but most people want) meant the last day of school was going to be close to July 4th. That's ridiculous.

Our kids have to take IB and AP exams on nationally-mandated days. Starting school 2 to 4 weeks later than many, many parts of the country means that they're disadvantaged in terms of learning days before those exams. That's the biggest reason the calendar committee decided to start school prior to Labor Day last year (2 weeks before Labor Day) and this year (1 week before Labor Day). The school board basically votes to approve or reject the calendar that the calendar committee has created.

If you want to find a school that starts after Labor Day, you will almost certainly have to go private, where they don't have the mandated 180 classroom days plus some built in days for teacher workdays to do report cards and grading. The privates have fewer school days.