FCPS School Board candidates in Dranesville

[Anonymous]

Dranesville District Candidate Forum
Thursday, October 17, 2019
7:00 PM 9:00 PM
McLean Community Center (map)
McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue McLean, VA, 22101 United States

[Anonymous]

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I am watching a work session from 10/18 and Strauss said that Herndon Middle wants an AAP center.

Is that still a request? I'm not sure I saw it in other recent threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Herndon High Parents only - all Dranesville candidates are advocating for keeping Langley students at Langley. What would you like your representative to do for you and our high school? I don't have kids there yet so are there things you would like to see changed?

One thing I would like to know in terms of equity is whether the same AP classes are running at Herndon (I mean actually running, not just listed in the course catalog) vs. another high school like McLean.

Not a Herndon parent, but I would also like to know if Herndon is able to run the same AP classes as the nearby high schools.

What does the PTA have to say about issues like this?

The AP classes (or any classes really) are determined by how many students sign up for them. You need a minimum of 19 students. Sometimes, they can wiggle it a bit, for example with journalism you can have three levels in the same class and assign students different things to do. Level IV and AP even foreign language sometimes do this too. Art classes can do this as well.

If you get close to the max number of students, sometimes the school doesnt let others in or limited the number of classes offered. This happened to us with our child with AP Chem at McLean and a friend’s child in AP Physics C, also at McLean.

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking I'll request a list of AP classes that are currently running at our school. That's surprising that McLean does not have enough students to run AP chem or physics c??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking I'll request a list of AP classes that are currently running at our school. That's surprising that McLean does not have enough students to run AP chem or physics c??

Sorry for the confusion. They has x number of classes of AP Chem and when they were filed, they would not add another session so my son had to choose a different class. Generally they run 4 AP Chem. With the AP Physics C- they ran only one class that year and turned away a few students. When the classes are full, they do not add another class, they make the student pick a class that is not yet full that fits their schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the Dranesville candidates holding any meet and greets this fall?

There's an at-large forum:

At-Large School Board FCPS School Board and Chair of the Board of Supervisors Candidate Forum
Monday, September 23, 2019
7:00 PM 9:30 PM
Fairfax County Government Center
12000 Government Center ParkwayFairfax, VA, 22035United States (map)

Tomorrow!

[Anonymous]

Replacing Keys Gamarra should be a priority. She is a net negative on the Board. Doesn’t focus on what’s important and chews up time on her pet social issues like “menstrual equity.” Does nothing for Dranesville.

[Anonymous]

I don't think Dranesville is impressed with her.

Did she vote against the McLean boundary study in January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Dranesville is impressed with her.

Did she vote against the McLean boundary study in January?

She opposed it. At the same time, she wants to expand Madison, which her own kids attended.

She is the worst at-large member. Knows nothing about most schools in the county.

Vote for Cheryl Buford, Priscilla DiStefano and Vinson Palathingal instead. They will bring some common sense to the school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Dranesville is impressed with her.

Did she vote against the McLean boundary study in January?

She opposed it. At the same time, she wants to expand Madison, which her own kids attended.

She is the worst at-large member. Knows nothing about most schools in the county.

Vote for Cheryl Buford, Priscilla DiStefano and Vinson Palathingal instead. They will bring some common sense to the school board.

I won't vote for anyone who is against McLean boundary study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Dranesville is impressed with her.

Did she vote against the McLean boundary study in January?

She opposed it. At the same time, she wants to expand Madison, which her own kids attended.

She is the worst at-large member. Knows nothing about most schools in the county.

Vote for Cheryl Buford, Priscilla DiStefano and Vinson Palathingal instead. They will bring some common sense to the school board.

I won't vote for anyone who is against McLean boundary study.

Not a bad idea to go back to the tape or meeting minutes and see who voted against it and their reasoning.

If Dranesville had a say Dr. "I get that there's tension but I have bigger plans for you that I'm not telling you about" would be out in November. But he's not running, so focusing on the members of the board will have to be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Dranesville is impressed with her.

Did she vote against the McLean boundary study in January?

She opposed it. At the same time, she wants to expand Madison, which her own kids attended.

She is the worst at-large member. Knows nothing about most schools in the county.

Vote for Cheryl Buford, Priscilla DiStefano and Vinson Palathingal instead. They will bring some common sense to the school board.

interesting that you picked the Republican slate. Why not do a mix based on each individual.

[Anonymous]

Vote for Cheryl Buford, Priscilla DiStefano and Vinson Palathingal instead. They will bring some common sense to the school board.

interesting that you picked the Republican slate. Why not do a mix based on each individual.

DP.
Keys-Gamarra has already proven to lack common sense.
Omeish. Have you read her tweets? Her platform on her website?
Remember her little altercation with the police?
She stacked the FCDC with high schoolers and others who have an agenda. That's how she got the nomination. Do you really think that most Fairfax County Dems believed she was the best choice?
She's 24 and never held a job outside of political activism. And, I'm not sure if that job was paid.

Rachna does appear to have some common sense, but her platform is not one that I think is best. She seems focused on special education and "equity." I do want equity for all kids, but I think that naturally comes with providing the best education possible meeting the kids where they are--not from social engineering.

I think Vinson P. is a little unrealistic in his goals and vision, but, at least, he wants to focus on academics. I think he would bring some balance to some of our other members.

DiStefano brings a different life experience and I think it could add to our Board. Buford seems best qualified of all.

We need to focus on academics and less on social issues.

[Anonymous]

You're assuming that this person didn't consider each individual.

Personally I am waiting until debates and until I have more time to really go through websites and make my pros/cons list for each individual. I don't really get serious about it until a week or so into October.