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       Some members of the Fairfax County School Board took their oaths of office this week on books that have been challenged or banned in other school districts around the state and country.

       Four returning members and eight newcomers were sworn onto the board at the ceremony Wednesday evening. Some members brought sentimental bibles, some brought stacks of books they connected with and others used no book at all. A number of members saw the ceremony as an opportunity to demonstrate their stance on the rise of book challenges.

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       Karl Frisch, the vice chair and Providence District incumbent who will become board chair on Jan. 1, 2024, was sworn in on a stack of the five LGBTQ-themed books that have commonly been challenged and banned in other districts. Frisch said in a news release that he became the first openly LGBTQ member elected to local office in Fairfax when he joined the board in 2019.

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       Kyle McDaniel, a newcomer who won his bid for an at-large seat, took his oath on “Homegoing” by Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi. McDaniel said in an interview that he saw the swearing in as an opportunity to convey his stance on book challenges, which have been on the rise in recent years across the country — including in some Virginia school districts where challenged books have been pulled from school libraries. McDaniel said he hadn’t read the book before he selected it to be sworn in on, he just knew it had been challenged in other Virginia school districts and its discussions of slavery piqued his interest. He’s now about halfway through the book and said he’s been moved by the writing.

       “We owe it to our students to teach accurate, complete, and contextual history,” McDaniel said in a statement.

       Mason District incumbent Ricardy Anderson and Mount Vernon District newcomer Mateo Dunne were both sworn in on bible. Dunne said his was a copy given to his father the year he died. Dunne was 18 at the time, so it had special value to his family. Sully District member Seema Dixit was sworn in on the Bhagavad Gita.

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       Dranesville District member Robyn Lady was also sworn in on a bible, one that she’s had since high school. She said it was a no-brainer to select a bible since her faith is such a big part of her life and identity. She was inspired to hear what books her new colleagues selected to represent themselves.

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       “I thought it was super cool that they were things that were important to them, like my bible is important to me,” Lady said.

       Rachna Sizemore Heizer left her position as an at-large member to run for a district-specific seat, in the Braddock District. She was sworn in on two books: “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn and “The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism” by Naoki Higashida.

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       Sizemore Heizer said she selected Zinn’s book because it was important to her to lift up a book that’s been challenged, but also because when she first read it in 1995 it opened her eyes to all of the stories that she had not learned about in history classes. The second book, she said, was an important book that broadened her perspective on neurodiversity. As a parent, it helped her better understand and connect with her own son, who has Autism.

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       Franconia District newcomer Marcia St. John-Cunning was sworn in on a stack of about five books. Most were related to her Mexican American heritage, and one, “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a book she frequently gave to students as an educator. St. John-Cunning, who is Mexican American, said it was a way for her to represent Latino and immigrant students enrolled in the district.

       Springfield District newcomer Sandy Anderson was also sworn in on a stack of books that had meaning to her, including a book she used when she taught engineering at Kansas State University, Simon Sinek’s “The Infinite Game” and “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams.

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       At-large members Ryan L. McElveen and Ilryong Moon, along with Hunter Mill District incumbent Melanie Meren did not use a book for the swearing in.

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       Democratic-endorsed candidates held on to all 12 seats on the Fairfax County School Board in last month’s election. Nine district and three vacant at-large slots were on the ballot. Incumbents ran for reelection in the Hunter Mill, Mason and Providence districts, and one at-large member gave up the seat to run in the Braddock District, meaning more than half of the board is made up of new members. While school board races in the state, like most of the country, are nonpartisan, nearly all the candidates in this year’s race were endorsed by a local political party, a sign of the increasing politicization of school

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