On July 18, in the middle of the summer when families are on vacation and school board members usually pass their most controversial policies, parents filled the auditorium at a Fairfax County school board meeting in protest of the county’s redistricting overhaul, Policy 8130 .
The school board members likely already knew what they were going to do walking into that meeting. Despite overwhelming protest from community members, they passed the policy as intended. Multiple families’ objections at the dais fell on deaf ears.
The redistricting overhaul itself didn’t surprise me. I think initiatives such as countywide boundaries and budget reviews are the school board’s job, unlike politically indoctrinating our children, which it seems to spend most of its time doing.
The most shocking part of the redistricting initiative was that when a school board member, Ricardy Anderson, thoughtfully proposed a grandfather clause, an amendment to safeguard children already in their designated schools, the majority of her colleagues voted against it.
In fact, there were only three school board members who voted in favor of the stability amendment – Ricardy Anderson, Melanie Meren, and Ilryong Moon. This effectively means a student could be a junior at one high school and be forced to finish out his or her senior year at a different high school because of boundary reviews that will occur every five years.
The lesson here is that elections, including local ones, have consequences. Given the civil unrest across Fairfax County in response to the redistricting policy, it seems likely that county residents did not realize what the 12 Democrat-endorsed members of the district’s school board had in store for their children when they elected them last November. That is because their equity-based redistricting plans were mostly a secret. Mostly.
When Michelle Reid, the district’s superintendent, emphasized equity at all costs as the centerpiece of her 2023-2030 strategic plan , she gave us a hint.
“Equity” is the very excuse used by at least two childless community members who spoke out in favor of overhauling the district’s boundaries. One of them is a first-grade teacher, Emily Vanderhoff , who also demanded our schools remain closed during the pandemic. During her testimony, she said , “A systemic review with an equity lens is needed. I also support the plan to complete a review … every five years.”
The other childless equity-over-stability proponent is Robert Rigby , the founder and co-chairman of Fairfax County Public Schools Pride, who wants to start “ Rainbow Clubs ” in elementary schools. Notably, Karl Frisch , the childless chairman of the school board, also voted with his colleagues to redistrict our children.
It is curious that people making such impactful decisions for our children in their public schools are doing so without the intuition, expertise, and experience that parenthood provides.
So, to parents, I say, keep up the fight for stability for our children. Check out FairFACTS Matters Foundation for more information on how to do that.
Moving forward, school board members should consider that many costs are too great to fulfill their equity utopia dreams. Our children’s stability is among them. Also, rather than uprooting our children from their schools, the most pressing concern is the waste in our district’s bloated $3.8 billion budget.
And to Fairfax County’s voters: Before you are mesmerized into submission with that blue sample ballot at the polls next time, take a moment to learn what your school board members actually believe and consider how it will affect your family before casting your vote.
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Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.
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