Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

School Board races should be about offering innovative ideas that can bring about positive change to an already stellar school system. Instead, the school board race this year features candidates who have never spent a day in an FCPS classroom arguing for the dismantling of our current system in favor of Tea Party-charged ideals that pit the “haves” against the “have-nots.”

Failing to be swayed by their arguments, At-Large candidate Ryan McElveen recognizes the need for increased funding in the future and has been presenting a positive message of reforming the school system to offer more 21st century skill-based learning. As a teacher working in the UK (but a proud graduate of FCPS who is planning to raise my family in Fairfax), I have seen the results of unconsidered, unoriginal audits that strip the system of smaller programs that benefit the “few”. What happens? As seen in the London riots this summer, and in the Occupy Wall Street protests, the few become the many. True, FCPS students aren’t likely to take such drastic action, but they will suffer quietly.

Cost-cutting and hacking away at money for education is an unimaginative and ultimately ineffective way of dealing with our children’s needs.

We need to elect sensible listeners who will be positive examples for our children, not candidates who offer up the obvious—but not the best—answers. I am proud to cast my absentee ballot for Ryan on Tuesday. It will be a good first step to ensuring the community I love, and hope to teach in one day soon, continues to move forward.  

Yours,

Samantha Clarkson