School Board Hopefuls Face Tough Questions From Tea Party

Candidates hoping to win  faced tough questions Monday night from members of the Northern Virginia Tea Party.

Five of the six candidates discussed education issues in a debate moderated by David C.F. Rex at the Springfield Government Center, while dozens of spectators looked on.  

In a series of answers that were limited to two minutes, candidates tackled a wide range of issues, from the closing of Clifton Elementary School to the role environmental literacy should play in a public school curriculum.

Rex, a former elected official, questioned candidates on their commitment to keep taxes low.

All of the candidates agreed on the need to be fiscally responsible and keep tax rates for county residents low, with many of them arguing that the school system takes up too large a percentage of the county’s budget to begin with. 

But when asked if they would commit to signing an Americans for tax reform pledge, where they agree to oppose any and all tax increases for the duration of their time in office, some candidates hesitated. 

“I would not sign a pledge like that but I would do my best to do something like that,” said . Sheree Kaplan-Brown agreed saying politicians have gotten themselves “in trouble” before when they have made similar absolutist promises.

Christina Guthrie said she would sign the pledge and spoke of the need to find more public-private partnerships that could increase opportunities for the school system to trim costs and fund programs that are not currently in the budget. 

Candidates had wide-ranging answers to a question about whether there should be more instruction on history and geography in elementary schools. 

Guthrie stressed the importance of fundamentals such reading and math in elementary school education, while Kendall said the emphasis on hard sciences in the curriculum needs to increase.   

But Brown-Kaplan, who said she was a history major, said teaching history at that age is important for civic engagement.

“They can’t be good citizens good voters, if they don’t understand what our history was,” she said.

Still, both Brown-Kaplan and k expressed concern about the content of the history curriculum being taught in elementary schools. 

“I am all for American history in its correct and proper form not the new history,” said Mancheno-Smoak. “We must be very mindful that our kids don’t get stolen in the night on sustainable development agenda type history.”

When asked if they support Virginia’s Standards of Learning, candidates agreed with each other that the system was a good way to uniformly track the academic progress of schools and students. 

But school board hopefuls were not without their criticisms. Guthrie said a proposal to force students to take the test twice a year was excessive, while Brown-Kaplan said teachers shouldn’t be forced to “teach to the test.”

“Let me just say, I am not in favor of the current standards of learning,” said Mancheno-Smoak. “We cannot continue to support the lowest common denominator as the target for everyone.” Her remark elicited applause from the audience.

Candidates were asked to remark on Maryland officials’ decision to add environmental literacy to its graduation requirements.

“I think we need to invest in hard sciences [and] there is no reason we can’t talk about the environment,” responded Guthrie.

But, Brown-Kaplan described the measure as “political correctness run amuck.”

Perhaps the moment when the candidates were in most agreement was when Rex asked them if they supported  For all of them, the answer was a resounding no. 

“I definitely do not support to this day the closing of Clifton Elementary,” said Kendall. “It made absolutely no sense.” 

The candidates also criticized the current school board for being  and to communicate with members of the community transparently. 

“It’s stunning to me that the current school board has acted in the way that it has,” said Stuban.

Notably absent from the debate, was extensive discussion on the  or the in subjects where there is an AP or IB alternative.

The Tea Party members will distribute a scorecard on each candidate to voting members of the Fairfax County Republican Committee showing where they stand on education issues the tea party considers important prior to the committee’s vote on school board endorsements.

The committee is scheduled to endorse just three of the six candidates on July 20th.

When asked if they would stay in the school board race should they not receive a Republican endorsement, Sheree Kaplan-Brown and Lolita Mancheno-Smoak said they wouldn’t, while Christina Guthrie said she wasn’t sure. 

Steve Stuban and Lin-Dai Kendall said they would continue to run for an at-large seat.

“I can no longer stand on the sidelines,” said Kendall. A Tea Party representative said that though at-large school board candidate Lisa Fagan could not be present for Monday’s event, she was questioned prior to the debate.

The debate was organized by the newly-formed Springfield, Burke and Bradock chapter of the Northern Virginia Tea Party.