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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm trying to research Erin as I've never heard of her and everyone I ask has never heard of her except a few Key people.  I consider myself pretty involved and informed in County-wide APS matters.  Does she have any experience other than Key PTA and a diversity committee at DHMS?[/quote]

Erin was the Board President at my child's Montessori preschool, which was set us as a parent co-operative. In March/April 2019, the assistant teachers raised concerns with the Board and school administration about one of the classroom teachers, including that the teacher routinely screamed at children and used demeaning language when speaking to them. The allegations came up as part of a 360 review of the school that was undertaken by the Board. Neither the existence of the review or its results were shared with parents, even though in a message to staff Erin referred to the results as shocking. The excuse of the Board (specifically, Erin) was that they conducted an internal investigation and were advised by HR professionals and an employment lawyer. They decided that the allegations were just the actions of one disgruntled employee and so they didn't notify families in the classroom that there were allegations of aggressive and abusive behavior by the teacher. We continued to send our child to this school for months in ignorance of this situation.

Six months later, the teaching assistants notified parents directly by sending a letter to us in the mail. In response to parents' concerns, Erin dismissed the allegations as fabrications. A week later, Virginia DSS did an investigation and spoke to current and former staff, and found the allegations were corroborated by four staff members. Specifically, the DSS investigation report states:

[b]"Based on multiple staff interviews, the center failed to ensure that staff were not making verbal remarks, which were demeaning to the children.  Evidence:  Staff member #1 routinely yelled and made demeaning remarks to the children. Staff member #1 was observed and overheard speaking inappropriately to children. Screaming that "we speak English here," to a visibly upset child. Staff members #2, #4, #7 and #8 reported this behavior to Staff member #3."[/b]

At this point, the school dismissed the teacher. They continued to act as though this was a sad thing that was happening to the school and the Board (Erin) offered no apology or acknowledgment of shortcomings to parents. Erin's own children were in the other teacher's classroom and so her family was not directly affected by the aggressive teacher's actions.

Based on recent safety incidents at various APS schools, parents and the community have asked for greater transparency as incidents occur and clearer action plans to address threats. That was not what we received when Erin was the leader of our preschool. I would never support Erin for the APS School Board.[/quote]

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