Saundra Davis Launches Campaign For Seat On Fairfax Co. School Board

BURKE, VA — Saundra Davis held a campaign launch celebration on Sunday for one of the three at-large seats on the Fairfax County School Board, attracting about 200 people to Burke Lake Park.

Davis said her campaign is aimed at establishing trust and transparency to “repair and strengthen a weakened school system.”

Attendees at Sunday’s launch celebration got a chance to meet Davis and learn about her campaign. “All were energized to help spread the word among their neighbors and friends,” Davis's campaign said Wednesday in a news release.

Pat Heritty, the Springfield District member and only Republican on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and Debra Tisler, a school board candidate for the Springfield District, were among the attendees at Sunday's event. Tisler is a former teacher and current advocate for students with special needs.

Davis's campaign collected hundreds of new and used books donated by attendees at the event, with plans to distribute them to students throughout the county.

“We are thrilled to have the support of many active public servants and families bringing the campaign launch to its fruition,” Davis, who lives in Burke with her family, said in a statement.

Davis has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Colorado State University, and spent her postgraduate years at University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she earned master’s degrees in health care administration and gerontology.

Davis said she is amenable to an endorsement from any entity that values common sense and academics first in public education. As a former Democrat who is now an independent, Davis said she tends to associate more with the Fairfax Republicans "because they are, ironically, an inclusive and welcoming group."

Among the candidates seeking the Democratic endorsement for the school board's at-large seats are incumbent Abrar Omeish; Lawrence Webb, a former member of the Falls Church City School Board; former School Board Member Ilryong Moon; Kyle McDaniel, who unsuccessfully ran as an independent for the Springfield District seat on the school board in 2019; J. Chris Lewis, a former FCPS teacher and current IT manager for the school system; and Hamid Munir, an IT professional.

Other candidates who have registered to run in the at-large school board race include Cassandra Aucoin, Jeffrey Hoffmann and Linda Pellegrino, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

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