Parents in Virginia’s largest school district have filed a recall petition against Fairfax County School Board member Laura Jane Cohen (Springfield) over her handling of school closures during the pandemic.
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The petition, filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday by the Open FCPS Coalition, accuses Cohen of “neglect of duty, misuse of office [and] incompetence” for voting to keep campuses closed in fall 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Like school districts nationwide, the Fairfax system — which enrolls about 180,000 students — offered online-only learning for more than a year in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus. The vast majority of the student body returned to full-time in-person learning at the start of this academic year.
Members of the Open FCPS Coalition — an education advocacy group that formed during the pandemic — gathered more than 8,000 signatures on the petition against Cohen, according to a news release from the group. That crosses the percentage threshold set by Virginia law, meaning the petition will now go before a judge, who will decide if a trial is warranted.
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“For over 18 months, the Fairfax County School Board … has not focused on what’s best for our students and families,” Dee O’Neal Jackson, the founder of the Open FCPS Coalition, said in a statement. “For 18 months, the school board has failed our kids, especially those with learning disabilities.”
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In a statement, Cohen disputed the accusations against her, calling the removal attempt “wrong on the facts and wrong on the law.” She called on the circuit court judge to immediately dismiss the parents’ petition.
“The Board has worked hard to ensure the safety and health of our 180,000 students and tens of thousands of teachers and staff during the pandemic,” Cohen said in the statement. “I’m proud that we’ve been able to successfully return and keep students in our buildings this year.”
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Spokeswomen for Fairfax County Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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Cohen was elected to the Fairfax school board in 2019 for a term that expires in 2023. Originally from Georgia, Cohen previously served as a long-term substitute teacher in the Fairfax school system and has also served on district committees including the Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee.
The Open FCPS Coalition, whose members include parents and residents of Fairfax County, formed in late 2020 to hold the school board accountable for its decision-making during the pandemic and to “keep politics out of schools,” according to a news release from the group. In a detailed five-page manifesto published to the group’s website, members argue that the Fairfax school board failed students and ignored the wishes of parents by keeping schools closed for much of the pandemic.
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The petition against Cohen is the second such recall attempt filed by the Open FCPS Coalition. In July, the group filed a recall petition against board member Elaine Tholen (Dranesville), after gathering more than 5,000 signatures.
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That petition similarly accused Tholen of failing to do her job by agreeing to shutter schools. A Virginia judge dismissed that petition about a month later, ruling that “the petition is not based on facts establishing probable cause for removal.”
Virginia judge dismisses parents’ recall petition against Fairfax school board member
The Open FCPS Coalition is further seeking the recall of board member Abrar Omeish (At Large). The coalition decided to target Tholen, Cohen and Omeish in particular — out of the district’s 12 board members — because of their track record of speaking and voting in favor of school closures, according to an FAQ posted on the group’s website.
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The Fairfax recall attempts come as a parent group in nearby Loudoun County is seeking the recall of several board members in that district over their alleged violations of Virginia open-meeting laws and their handling of two sexual assault cases in the school system. Fight For Schools has so far filed recall petitions against three members of the Loudoun County School Board; one member later resigned, and two recall efforts are ongoing.
Should the Fairfax or Loudoun parent groups accomplish the removal of a school board member through the recall process, it will be the first such removal in at least the past 15 years, according to the website Ballotpedia. The most recent Virginia recall effort, pursued against a Prince William County Public Schools board member in 2018, culminated in his resignation.