Elaine Tholen's recall is goin to court

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Everyone you know is very shortsighted then. Are they fan of Youngkin’s “voter integrity” platform that sucks up to trump and the big lie? Are they a fan of Youngkin going on the offense against abortion rights as he stated he would at a campaign event?

People don’t have to decide who they are supporting in the Governor’s race to dislike the fact that their local School Board that is supposed to be non-partisan is instead a collection of party activists who fail to exercise independent judgment.

I agree. If you are happy with how the leadership of the past year and your child’s experience in FCPS, keep voting for Democratic candidates. Many people do not want a repeat, so they are voting otherwise.

The problem is that the R’s end up nominating someone who is worse.

Anastasia Karloutsos would have been better than Elaine Tholen turned out to be. For sure Anastasia was less of a hypocrite.

A lot of people voted for Tholen because she was a Democrat and it was assumed she'd have more ability to persuade other Ds. And then she ended up throwing them under the bus.

A.K. didn’t have experience in Fairfax County. Most likely she wanted her kids to receive the highest level of preferential treatment in FCPS.

What is that even supposed to mean? One of the problems with the current School Board is that so few members currently have kids in FCPS. Tholen hasn't had kids in FCPS for years and some members like Omeish and Frisch don't have kids at all.

I dare say if any of these childless School Board members had to stay home and supervise online education of a K-3 grader for an entire year, their tunes may be different. It’s easy to say, “Yes, online learning will be fun” without having to actually turn your family’s life upside down and deal with the consequences day in/day out.

Melanie Meren has at least one young ES. Rumor was she had a pod with a private tutor….Makes it much easier to keep voting to delay the return to school last fall.

We were in an unprecedented situation where there were no easy decisions and the “science” and recommendations for following it kept changing. You all need to stop harping on the past and work on current and future problems. You did a good job making the public aware of the huge difficulties in online learning and we are guaranteed 5 days of in person school in the fall. I don’t know what the benefit is in crucifying Tholen over this, especially since the vast majority of her colleagues agreed with her.

[Anonymous]

The petition will get tossed, but the benefit of replacing her now is not having to wait two more years for a Board member who isn’t weak, deceitful, and just another rubber stamp on a board that functions as an echo chamber.

[Anonymous]

Even if the petition ultimately fails, the School Board members are put on notice that their actions are being monitored (and no longer blindly trusted by FCPS families). Plus, I think the recall/frustration with current School Board will bring motivated voters to the polls in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if the petition ultimately fails, the School Board members are put on notice that their actions are being monitored (and no longer blindly trusted by FCPS families). Plus, I think the recall/frustration with current School Board will bring motivated voters to the polls in November.

You had best be prepared to be in this for the long haul. If Democrats win state elections this fall, as is quite possible, the local Democrats will treat this as a ratification of all the crap they are doing at the local level, even though it’s likely that multiple School Board members currently on the board like Tholen would lose their seats if up for re-election this fall.

[Anonymous]

It will fail. And maybe. If it were Novemver 2021, perhaps. But it is November 2023 and this will not be on the top of voters' minds. It is a pretty small subset now, in my opinion, and will be even less so then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will fail. And maybe. If it were Novemver 2021, perhaps. But it is November 2023 and this will not be on the top of voters' minds. It is a pretty small subset now, in my opinion, and will be even less so then.

Tholen had better to work to rehabilitate her reputation if she wants a Democrat to win her seat in 2023:

- kept schools closed and then dragged feet school reopening; shill for teacher organizations

- over 5000 constituents on the record as wanting her removed

- spent months during pandemic instead fretting over TJ admissions; went along with reducing # of Dranesville kids going to TJ

- blatantly favored Langley over McLean (the more Democratic area) in boundary change

- ignored Herndon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will fail. And maybe. If it were Novemver 2021, perhaps. But it is November 2023 and this will not be on the top of voters' minds. It is a pretty small subset now, in my opinion, and will be even less so then.

Are you fatalistic, or just another D who rubs in people's faces the fact that a ham sandwich endorsed by the FCPS would have a good chance of winning? That tide may be about to turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will fail. And maybe. If it were Novemver 2021, perhaps. But it is November 2023 and this will not be on the top of voters' minds. It is a pretty small subset now, in my opinion, and will be even less so then.

Are you fatalistic, or just another D who rubs in people's faces the fact that a ham sandwich endorsed by the FCPS would have a good chance of winning? That tide may be about to turn.

I am not fatalistic (and that sentiment is hyperboic anyway), and I am definitley not a D. I am common sense though. I am an R, but the R's have run things off into a ditch as well. Hope there is a turnaround with the school board and the GOP.

[Anonymous]

I don't see people forgetting what a sub-par member Tholen has been. Reminds me somewhat of Liz Bradsher, who pissed off a significant number of people in Clifton/Fairfax Station and didn't even bother to run for another term.

[Anonymous]

I think that is the best likelihood - members choosing not to run again. I really do not know if Tholen is subpar or not. I know some people hate her., based on reading here I'm a Herndon parent. No one I know is talking about her one way or the other. Some overall irritation or not over the opening of schools, but no one is naming her as the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see people forgetting what a sub-par member Tholen has been. Reminds me somewhat of Liz Bradsher, who pissed off a significant number of people in Clifton/Fairfax Station and didn't even bother to run for another term.

+1 I think a lot of these people - not even just the recall targets - are not going to run for re-election. Thank goodness.

[Anonymous]

How many did not run for reelection in 19. I think it was quite a few. Maybe only half, but not sure.

[Anonymous]

Ideally, there would be a complete reboot in 2023 and staggered terms introduced with this new slate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many did not run for reelection in 19. I think it was quite a few. Maybe only half, but not sure.

Moon was forced out
Palchik ran for supervisor
McElveen too I thought ran for supervisor
Sandy Evans did not run, I think there was an effort to recall her that did not get enough signatures but people were mad enough that they didn't run her
Pat Hynes retired, and good thing considering all the video of her enthusiastic about rearranging boundaries by race
Jane Strauss retired but I think that was purely her wanting more time in her life to pursue other interests.

[Anonymous]

I love it! No Teachers Unions in Virginia!!! Kinda true! It is an Association. They enough power to keep schools closed and dictate educational standards in plus donate large amounts of money to democrat candidates in Virginia but you are correct they are not a Union.