PAGE 14 | SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 6 , 2021
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FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
F.C. School Board Candidates Respond To F.C. Education Association Introduction by Farrell Kelly, President, Falls Church City Education Association:
The Falls Church City Education Association (FCCEA) is an organization which independently represents members throughout the Falls Church City Public Schools. While FCCEA is not able to, nor would it want to, make any endorsements for specific School Board Candidates, we wanted to take an opportunity this year to give candidates a chance to share their feelings on issues and questions that might be important to both our members and the larger community. To this end, we have put together a short questionnaire which School Board candidates were eager to complete. We will share these responses with our members, and the Falls Church NewsPress has agreed to help us share these responses with the community at large. These are responses to the last two questions asked by the Education Association. All five questions and answers can be viewed on fcnp.com.
Q. If you could lobby to change one policy at the state or local school board level, what would it be and why? I find the unequal funding of schools in our country unconscionable. If I could successfully advocate for one change at the state level, it would be to change the percentage of school funding that comes from the state versus local funding. The perpupil spending in FCCPS is 1.5 times the average across the state and I would like to see every student in Virginia (and nationwide) have access to similar funding. All students deserve an education as excellent as an FCCPS education.
healthy children needlessly being kept out of school and they never go on to test positive for Covid. These pauses are extremely disruptive to classrooms, kids, and families when they happen. We could cut down on them tremendously by providing periodic rapid testing over several days and allow kids to continue to come to school even in the event of an exposure as long as they test negative. Several other states are already doing this and many European countries have already dropped all other mitigation measures in lieu of providing simple, quick, accessible rapid testing (or PCR in some cases) in order for school to get back to normal. If we could cut through any red tape and obstacles within our state to put such a program in place for our system, I would lobby for that.
Lori Silverman
Jerrod Anderson
Kathleen Tysse
I support universal pre-k as a funded mandate, similarly to what one of our gubernatorial candidates is talking about in his campaign. This ensures that every student has access to an equitable education at the early, critical years.
Tate Gould
With the ability to lobby for any change, I would focus efforts at the state level, specifically changing how our commonwealth funds its schools. Virginia places a significant burden on local funding, ranking it almost last in the 12 southeastern states, with barely 13 percent of state expenditure being invested locally for elementary and secondary education. This places a significant burden of responsibility on localities, especially smaller communities like FCC that are required to increase taxes significantly in order to provide a top quality education and pay teachers and staff at a competitive scale compared to larger, neighboring districts. By changing the state funding formula, this reduces the strain for localities to bear the burden of funding its schools, typically one of the largest line items on city budgets and reduces the inequity of school funding for all districts that is closely tied to property tax values.
Courtney Mooney
I would like for us to seriously consider a test-to-stay program for our school where kids who have been identified as a potential Covid contact/exposure do not have to wait for contact tracing or quarantine as long as they have a negative rapid Covid test. Rapid testing is very effective for identifying viral loads that may be high enough to make someone infectious to others. Over 98 percent of the time, the contact tracing/exposure events lead to
I do not want to answer this question in ignorance. I did sporadic research on the topic of education as part of my graduate school work and worked on specific projects within a public school system, but I do not feel qualified to give a specific recommendation. Broadly, I would want any change in policy to increase the flexibility districts and teachers have in providing education.
Ilya Shapiro
I’m concerned that board governance has sometimes focused too much on cosmetics or other secondary matters and too little on substance. For example, following state law, our board adopted a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy this spring, which includes a commitment to “promote anti-racism.” But what does that mean, for both students and teachers, who will be evaluated on that standard? Nobody in good faith can disagree with making our schools open, welcoming, and accessible to all, but the school board missed an opportunity to set positive expectations, especially in light of heated controversies in other districts. I want to make sure we’re not airbrushing America’s and Virginia’s troubling history on race, but also not using guilt, shame, or political advocacy as teaching tools. I will encourage my colleagues to focus on how well our schools are serving our students. In-person, effective educational programming must be at the top of our list of priorities; with our great resources, we can meet each child’s needs.
David Ortiz In general, I support the existing policies of the Falls Church City Public Schools and the Virginia Department of Education. These policies do not appear
to impede the ability of the Falls Church City Public Schools to achieve their mission and near-term goals. If elected to the School Board, I would seek to ensure continued alignment of our educational standards, instructional approaches and methods, curriculum, and assessment mechanisms through appropriate policies.
Q. What are your top three school board budget priorities?
Kathleen Tysse I understand there have been significant gains in employee compensation over the past several years, but I would like to see FCCPS consistently lead the region in this department at every level of the salary schedule. In addition, I strongly support the piloted program to open school enrollment to our employees’ families and would like to see that program eventually expanded to eliminate any tuition — and without lotteries or caps. I also strongly support our small class sizes, but have concerns about the caseloads of our specialists and support staff. I would like to ensure that our specialists and support staff across the system, such as social workers, guidance counselors, Special Education teachers, Enrichment teachers, ESOL teachers, etc. have smaller caseloads in order for them to most effectively serve their students.
Lori Silverman
Ensuring that teachers are adequately compensated for summer school so we can be properly staffed and offer summer school to any family who wishes to enroll in summer school. During Covid, this is especially important, but this should be offered every year. I know this falls under Capitol Improvement Plan, but updating Oak Street Elementary to a level that meets the needs of students, teachers, and staff is a priority. We need to ensure that our diversity, equity and inclusion policy puts money in the classroom to implement the curriculum. I would want the teachers to help and be heavily involved in the process, given their expertise, to determine what exactly that looks like to them. But now that we passed the policy, we need the curriculum in the classrooms and the money to implement the programs.
Tate Gould
1) Increase efforts to mitigate the aca-
demic delays/losses experienced with students from Covid, particularly for those students at learning risk: We must ensure all learners who were academically impacted by the virtual learning experience are provided resources and adequate support to get caught up to their potential. Evidence-based strategies, such as those outlined by the Institute of Education Sciences, advocate for the use of onsite school-based tutors, specialized remediation curriculum, and increased in-class supports. These low-cost/ high impact methods provide support for all students who are struggling to catch up. 2) Continue our focus on adequately compensating and incentivizing our FCCPS teachers and staff. Along with continuing our city’s strides on ensuring competitive pay for our teachers and staff, we have the ability to provide support for voluntary teacher incentive programs that help encourage teachers who pursue leadership opportunities in their field, such as National Board Certification or other distinctions that go beyond the basic certification of licensing. Our FCCPS teaching core are talented, experienced, and continual learners and as such, should be afforded the opportunity to be recognized and rewarded for going above and beyond. 3) Maintaining fiscal accountability and responsibility: As school board members, we must ensure we are fiscally responsible with the budget decisions and financial planning. I fully understand the role required to ensure working with other school board members, the superintendent, as well as other city leaders to balance needs and wants in a community with finite resources and the purchase of the new school.
Courtney Mooney
1) Learning loss/ Mental Health budgeting 2) Math/ Science support and ensuring that portion of our curriculum is where it needs to be 3) Professional and technical training exposure/ opportunities for students. College is not for everyone nor should that be the only expectation. From a general budgeting perspective, I think it is imperative the board has a strong understanding of whether or not we are maximizing our tax dollars and spending money in places and for programs and people that are effective and make sense. This past year the school budget accounted for 41 percent of our overall city budget. As board members we must be accountable and responsible stewards of our community members’ money and spend it wisely.
Jerrod Anderson
What are your top three school board budget priorities?
Priority 1: ensure that staff compensation (both pay and benefits) remains competitive with surrounding districts. School staff are our number 1 educational resource, and compensation makes up 85 percent of the schools budget. Priority 2: as capital improvement projects arise (for example, Oak Street Elementary is scheduled for capital improvements in 2026), we should ensure that improvements or additions address the needs of the school community at those locations and that these projects are also used to increase the sustainability of our physical plant. Priority 3: explore the feasibility of expanding on the current pilot project for non-resident employee student tuition waivers
Ilya Shapiro 1) Greater transparency regarding the use of federal and state Covid-relief funds, particularly in light of recent drops in standardized test scores. We must be using that money as long-term investments in improving educational opportunities, rather for short-term operational spending. 2) Work with the city council to ensure that educational needs are properly respected given that FCCPS represents nearly half of the city budget. Council members can give valuable advice, and have final authority over the budget, but sometimes pushback might be needed if there are attempts to influence what are properly school board decisions. At the same time, the school board shouldn’t simply rubber stamp and advocate before the city council for the budget that the superintendent proposes. The board is an independent body with a fiduciary responsibility to our community and a responsibility to oversee the central FCCPS office. 3) Make sure that the secondary campus is properly insulated from the development and future operation of the commercial property on the old high school site. I wholeheartedly welcome that development -- we need to broaden our tax base and keep more consumer dollars in Falls Church -- but it shouldn’t disrupt students and staff.
David Ortiz My top three budget priorities are: (1) competitive compensation and professional development for teachers; (2) sufficient resources to support the mental health and emotional growth needs of our students; and (3) resources to promote equity among all students.
