Reply to What do I need to know about the Fairfax County School Board?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Hynes and Strauss both had or have direct teaching experience and/or education degrees. Are you suggesting the School Board and FCPS administration need more professional managers, and fewer people with education backgrounds? What in Schultz's background or tenure on the School Board suggests she really understands education policy? [/quote]

Hynes and Strauss show little interest in education and give lip service more than concrete suggestions.  Platitudes.

Granted, Schultz spends too much time challenging the others--but, she does speak for many in Fairfax County who do not have a voice on the ultra liberal school board.  She tried to broker a compromise on Stuart naming once she realized the name was going to change.  I wonder if someone else had worked on this, if her suggestion would have passed.  Clearly, some on the board were determined that only an African American should be the namesake.  Karen Keys-Gamarra was still lobbying for Justice Thurgood Marshall and screwed up her proposal because she(a lawyer) did not understand the motion.

Schultz also gets into the meat of programs and asks astute questions regarding finances and other issues.  Yes, she has conservative social values, but she also watches out for good stewardship of funds.
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It's harsh to claim Hynes shows little interest in education when she teaches elementary school students five days a week (at least).  She has a law degree and could have earned far more money with a private law firm.  She chose a different path. Strauss was a teacher for years and has a masters degree in teaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Perhaps they say things that come across as platitudes to you, but it's safe to conclude they know more than most about what makes kids tick inside a classroom.

As for Schultz, she has finely honed political instincts.  If you followed the Stuart/Justice renaming, you'd know that she sized up the preferences of the other School Board members; offered "compromises" that she knew in advance would not pass; and only did so to embarrass other members (including Keys-Gamarra, who had only been on the SB for a few weeks when Schultz did a parliamentary jui-jitsu on her).  Over most of the extended period that the name change was discussed, Schultz was vehemently opposed to changing the name from "JEB Stuart" and utterly dismissive of minority students and community members who explained why the Confederate name offended them.  As for her budget-related questions, they are no more "astute" than those from other School Board members; she simply chooses to ask them in televised SB meetings that already have a full agenda, not work sessions with FCPS staff or emails.  That doesn't promote efficiency, but instead leads to Board meetings that frequently go on past midnight. [/quote]

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