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Democratic-endorsed candidates appeared poised to hold onto all 12 seats on the Fairfax County School Board, with more than 95 percent of precincts reporting in Tuesday’s election.
All 12 school board seats — 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 will be new members.
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While school board races in the state, like most of the country, are nonpartisan, nearly all the candidates on the ballot Tuesday were endorsed by a local political party, a sign of the increasing politicization of school boards. For the first time this year, for example, the Fairfax County Democratic Committee hosted an open election for its endorsements.
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The unofficial results from Tuesday night in part reflect voter satisfaction with the Democratic-backed school board’s actions over the past four years — a period marked by some turbulent moments as the district pushed back against some policies by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
“Tonight’s results show people are fed up with the political attacks targeting our world-class public schools and teachers,” said Karl Frisch, who was leading in his reelection bid for the Providence District. “Fairfax County residents have made it clear: they want safe and inclusive schools with exceptional educators and equitable access to the opportunities every student needs to succeed.”
The Fairfax board governs Virginia’s largest school district, which has nearly 200 schools serving more than 180,000 students. It will be tasked with setting priorities for the district’s $3.5 billion budget, executing the district’s newly implemented seven-year strategic plan and helping students recover from learning loss fueled by the pandemic.
It is also a body that has frequently clashed with Youngkin. His 2021 campaign tapped into the moment of parental grievance arising from the school shutdowns during the pandemic, which became a template for other Republicans around the country to run on issues related to education.
Since taking office, Youngkin has issued executive orders to ban “inherently divisive” topics from school curriculums and to allow parents to opt their children out from mask mandates. His education department overhauled the state’s history standards and removed protections for transgender students in school put in place by Youngkin’s predecessor.
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At nearly every point, Fairfax schools fought the governor’s actions. The school board led a group of seven school districts in an unsuccessful lawsuit to stop the governor’s mask-optional order. The district also passed an educational equity plan in June despite Youngkin’s Day 1 executive order prohibiting “inherently divisive concepts” and removing most equity initiatives at the state level.
The clash bubbled up again this summer when the state approved Youngkin’s controversial model policies for the treatment of transgender students in K-12 public schools. The district publicly rejected the governor’s new policies.
The election’s results demonstrate support for such opposition to the Youngkin administration. In nearly every race, candidates who secured support from the Democratic Party beat their Republican-backed opponents.
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For the three at-large seats, Democratic-endorsed candidates Kyle McDaniel, Ryan L. McElveen and Ilryong Moon were leading in the race against three Republican-endorsed and three independent candidates they faced. If the results hold, McElveen and Moon would both return to the board after serving previous stints. McDaniel, a pilot, would be a newcomer to the governing body.
In the Braddock District, Rachna Sizemore Heizer, who currently sits on the board as an at-large member, was ahead of Priscilla DeStefano. Robyn Lady, a former counselor and director of student services in FCPS was leading in the race against Paul Bartkowski for the Dranesville seat.
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In the Franconia District, Marcia St. John-Cunning was leading in the race against Kevin Pinkney. St. John-Cunning had been temporarily disqualified from the race because of an error in her petition forms that came to light in a complaint filed by the Eighth Congressional District Republican Party. A judge later reversed that decision, reinstating St. John Cunning, who worked for Fairfax County Public Schools as a family liaison and family engagement regional representative.
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Hunter Mill District incumbent Melanie Meren was poised to keep her seat and defeat Harry Jackson, a candidate who had divided the local GOP and landed in the center of a number of controversies during his run for school board. Meren, who was first elected to the board in 2019, told The Washington Post in the questionnaire that she hoped to continue building upon the relationships she had established on the board and focus on finding ways to retain staff.
Incumbent Ricardy Anderson led the race in the Mason District against Kristin Ball. Anderson was first elected to the board in 2019 and has said that she wants to find additional funding to address teacher shortages.
In the Mount Vernon district, Mateo Dunne was ahead of Stori Zimmerman. And Frisch, who was elected to the school board’s Providence District in 2019, was leading in his bid for reelection against Tony Sabio.
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In the Springfield District, Sandy Anderson was ahead of independent candidate Peter Bixby-Eberhardt and Republican-backed Debra Tisler. The final seat — in the Sully District seat — was poised to go to Seema Dixit, who ran against Cynthia Walsh. Dixit, co-founder of the Women Empowerment Foundation, told The Post in a questionnaire she wants to focus on closing opportunity gaps and addressing learning loss.
On Tuesday, Steven Larsen tapped the Republican Party pin on his jacket as he stood outside Belle View Elementary School. The 62-year-old retiree had just cast his ballot for Stori Zimmerman, the candidate backed by the Republican Party in the Mount Vernon school district. Larsen said that his wife just retired as a schoolteacher and that they both felt that Fairfax County schools are headed in the wrong direction. He was not surprised to see the local school board fighting against many of Youngkin’s actions in office.
Many who lined up at the polls Tuesday said they hoped to see less emphasis on politics on the school board.
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“We’re in a very political area, so you’re going to get politics in the school board,” said Pilar Sanders, 38, who has lived in the Fairfax area her entire life and voted at Belle View Elementary School. “I have a lot of friends who are schoolteachers, so I do like to see a focus on education.”
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay (D) chatted with voters as they headed into a precinct at West Springfield High School. Some told him that they were concerned about schools pushing against inclusive environments and pushing so-called parents’ rights.
“I’m very concerned about the dialogue that’s going on around public education, but I’m heartened by people’s response to it because Fairfax County voters are smart,” McKay said. “Our schools are the economic magnet for Fairfax County. People come here for our school system and we have to protect that reputation.”
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Despite the conversation around hot-button issues, many of the candidates in the race campaigned on similar topics: recovering pandemic-era learning loss, finding ways to retain quality teachers and keeping politics off the board.
With young kids who will soon be entering the school system, Doug Ying said he was looking for candidates who supported raising teacher pay and building strong schools. He stood outside the precinct at Fox Mill Elementary School with his 2-year-old daughter on his hip.
“We’re very lucky in this area, we’ve got incredible public school districts. So I think we want to make sure we are able to attract and retain high talent,” said Ying, a Democrat. “We see ourselves staying in this area for a while while our kids are growing up, so we want to be able to keep that education to the level it’s currently at, if not better.”
Omari Daniels contributed to this report.
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