Falls Church City School Board Candidates
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Anonymous
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Starting a thread to discuss FCCPS school board candidates. Curious to hear who is running and what they are stand for or why they are running. I am aware of:
Lori Silverman Jerrod Anderson Courtney Mooney Caroline Lian Ilya Shapiro Adam Riedel Anyone else? Any info? Our kids are in early elementary and not as familiar with the issues beyond opening schools, which they have already done. |
Anonymous
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The middle candidates on your list (Anderson, Lian, Mooney, Shapiro) - seem to be running as a slate and were all part of the Reopen Falls Church Schools group, which IMO has been morphing into a general anti-existing school establishment group. They also seem, at least on their facebook page, to be opposed to the schools teaching diversity.
Ilya Shapiro is a leader at the Cato Foundation, a libertarian think tank founded by the Koch brothers. Personally I'm not a huge fan of a libertarian governing our public schools (since libertarians aren't huge believers in government having anything to do with education) but people can make up their own minds on that one. He also doesn't have kids in the school system yet, so has no personal experience dealing with our schools, teachers, principals, etc. To me, I don't know how you have an informed opinion about how to make our schools better if you haven't experienced them on a personal level. I don't know if any of the others have been involved in the PTA or volunteered in the schools. I think our schools here are so small and so easy to be involved with that I am personally skeptical of anyone who hasn't actually rolled up their sleeves and been a part of making them work. I think overall we're very lucky here to have such a small school system in which we can really know our school leaders and school board members and make an impact (unlike bigger school systems i.e. Fairfax). |
Anonymous
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Welcome to FCCPS, OP! If you can, join the final elementary PTA meeting of the year (this Thursday, 5/27) to learn more about what else is on the radars of the schools and other parents.
If you're relatively new to Falls Church and/or school board politics, you may have missed the last go-round or two with the folks from Falls Church FACTS, our local Tea Party-esque/get off my lawn echo chamber. Per the PP's summary of some of the folks running this year, it sounds like they might be at it again. You can visit their website and decide for yourself whether their take on the issues resonates. Although I'm not sure if that will help you formulate opinions on the candidates, as most of the articles and comments are anonymous. The League of Women Voters usually sponsors a series of town halls and/or debates, often in cooperation with the American Legion on Oak St. Keep checking the News Press for details about when/where these will be held. |
Anonymous
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Ilya "Salary from Charles Koch" Shapiro is running for FCPS School Board?
Wow. |
Anonymous
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Wait, reading that again:
Ilya Shapiro was part of a "force schools back open" group, and he has no kids in the school system? The agenda-driven stuff going on in this area just kills me sometimes. |
Anonymous
| Is this post written by the same person who ghost wrote that awful Blue VA blog post? This is exactly what’s wrong with FCC—just a liberal echo chamber with zero tolerance for other views. I don’t agree with Ilya’s views, but I’m willing to let him get on the ballot and let the voters decide. |
Anonymous
Having children in the schools is not a requirement to run for school board or be on the school board. FCCPS had a long time member who recently moved away who had no children and has a current member who has no children. As to Mr. Shapiro, he has young children who will be attending the schools and that's why he wants to run. |
Anonymous
I think he wants to run because he is one of very very few people in the country who has pro-billionaire views on destroying public schools and unions, which is why Charles Koch pays him— elevate and give a platform to those pro-billionaire, anti-school views. I’m not worried about the technical details of eligibility I’m worried that anyone could vote for someone that represents an ideological agenda that wants to tear down public schools to shrink government to cut taxes on the rich. |
Anonymous
Uh, who said he isn't allowed to get on the ballot and let the voters decide? Of course he is. |
Anonymous
Put this in a nextdoor post and see how brave people are with their posts... or let’s just continue to spew bs on a forum anonymously... |
Anonymous
OP here - thank you! I have never heard of the Falls Church Facts group. We were here for the last school board and council elections but our kids weren’t in schools and we weren’t as familiar with the local issues. I really appreciated the tips of getting more involved in the PTA and following them for understanding issues. That’s a great point and something I will do. It’s been such an odd year to try to understand that’s for sure! As for the the poster asking if I wrote the Blue VA article - um no! I have never written an opinion article in my life or for that organization. I have seen it. I really do not want to alienate my friends and neighbors involved in different issues or politics so I posted here. Thanks for those who provided some context and for responding with real input. |
Anonymous
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Apparently Caroline Lian just shifted gears and is now running for city council.
The Falls Church News Press reported that, and listed some other people running for school board. I think there are others considering it though. The paper made it sound like getting 125 signatures to make the ballot in a week is something very difficult, but I think if you can't accomplish that you probably shouldn't be running for anything! |
Anonymous
| former PTA president Kathleen Tysse announced she is running. She's great. Definitely will vote for her. |
Anonymous
Me too! |
Anonymous
Oh I really like her! She was so good on the PTA. I also heard there is a 7th, Tate Gould and am 8th, Jennifer Halvaksz. I don’t know them but heard good things about both. Definitely a crowded race even with Caroline Lian switching to run for city council. |