Anyone who’s been tracking this blog the last few weeks or so noticed it’s been a couple of days since my last post on the election or anything else. The reason for this, in addition to my need for sleep, is that during the course of my researching the choices being offered for School Board I became seriously depressed and angry.
This came out of sympathy for one of the candidates whose campaign is driven by a horrible personal tragedy, the suicide of his son, due to the arbitrary implementation of an incredibly misguided school discipline policy which I hope will be changed soon before it ruins any more lives.
Further anger came from reading of the despicable woman behind the campaigns of the three GOP-backed candidates, who seems to think the best way to insure her own kids’ success in school is to work for the deprivation of other kids who evidently weren’t sufficiently motivated to be born to well-off parents. Yeah, “Red Apple Mom”, I’m talking about you, you shameful, self-centered shrew. Red Apple Mom’s real name is Catherine Lorenze and she was the subject of a Washington Post article that should serve as a litmus test for whether or not the reader has any brains or empathy. (Cheat-Sheet: If you buy her argument, you don’t.)
It turned out there was one candidate she backed for whom I had considered voting, but upon learning that she was a Red Apple darling I did the sane thing and wrote her off. Sorry, Sheree A. Brown-Kaplan. You are known by the company you keep.
BTW, the candidates are all listed by the Virgina Board of Elections as “Independents” and the race is described as “non-partisan.”
If you believe that please allow me to introduce myself as “Rich and Handsome.”
Here on planet Earth there are three endorsed by the Dems, three by the GOP and one who is truly unaffiliated. I’m voting for the Dems and so should you. I’ll tell you why below.
The preamble out of the way, let’s dive in. There are seven candidates for the board and we are told to vote for no more than three. In alphabetical order they are:
1. Sheree A. Brown-Kaplan (Republican/teabagger). Her website is here. The thing that grabbed me about Ms. Brown-Kaplan immediately was that she was running hard as an advocate for students with special needs. I admire anyone sticking up for people who weren’t born with the advantages many of us have. I also have friends who have kids with various degrees of autism, Aspergers, and A.D.D. What I’ve learned from them is that too often such parents have to fight tooth and nail to get their kids the resources they’re guaranteed as citizens in a US public school system. Yeah, I get that budgets are tight all over, but I’m devout in my conviction that the cheapest money you can spend is on getting kids well educated as early as possible. Hell, it shouldn’t even be considered spending. It should be called what it is: Investing. Because it pays dividends down the road with healthier, happier, more informed citizens working and going to the polls. The 2010 elections and their aftermath should be all the convincing you need about what happens when people with next to no critical thinking skills show up en masse to vote. We all pay for it and it costs a lot more than a little extra help for kids who need it.
Unfortunately, Ms. Brown-Kaplan is endorsed by the very people who are most likely to slash spending on such programs: The teabaggers, the lowest hanging fruit in our shared civic lives. I feel bad about this because she has a record of service to run on. Sadly this is outweighed by her association with people to whom we can not allow even a pinky-toe in the door. The teabaggers must be the kiss of death politically or they will continue inflicting their damage. We can not afford any more of it, least of all in our schools.
If Ms. Brown-Kaplan wishes to renounce these people I would be willing to give her a shot in the future. Some of her intentions seem good. Some of her friends are anything but.
2. Lin-Dai Y. Kendall (Republican/Teabagger) Her website is here. Ms. Kendall is a naturalized citizen from Honduras who’s worked a variety of jobs but shown no interest in public schools until recently. She seems to have gotten active over a school closing that affected her. Her inexperience combined with a teabagger endorsement makes her an easy one to dismiss.
3. Lolita I. Mancheno-Smoak (Republican/Teabagger) Her website was not listed by the Virginia Board of Elections but I found it here. A self-described “change agent and business transformation leader” and someone who will “never stop innovating”, Ms. Mancheno-Smoak emigrated from Ecuador as a girl and has racked up a decent collection of letters after her name. Unfortunately none of them have anything to do with public education and she lists no experience volunteering or otherwise serving in that area. Once again, inexperience plus a teabagger endorsement equals a big “NO.”
4. Ryan L. McElveen (Democrat) His website is here. I must say of all the candidates Mr. McElveen is my favorite. He looks a bit like a young Lex Luthor and his on-camera delivery needs some polish, but his resume is extraordinary and his history of educational activism within Fairfax speaks well of him. He’s a product of Fairfax County schools and he’s very conscious of his obligation to give back. I could cut and paste several great quotes from his site but I’d rather you go there and see for yourself. He gets high marks for being a young man who could do (and has done) a lot of other things, but who chooses to apply his gifts to public service. Many kudos to him along with my vote.
And extra kudos for specifically going after Rotten Apple’s “Screw the Poor Some More” agenda. I love progressives who hit back. Hard.
5. Ilryong Moon (Democrat) His website is here. Mr. Moon is another great candidate. He’s a 12-year incumbent on the school board with a long record of service in other areas. A Harvard-educated attorney, he is a partner in a local firm who has managed somehow to do a wide range of community service over the years. I also like that he has skin in the game. His kids both graduated Fairfax schools and he’s married to a public school teacher. Re-electing Moon.
6. Steven M.F. Stuban (Independent) His website is here. This is the one that tore me up and I’ll advise you if you read further it will do the same to you.
Candidate Stuban and his wife are career Army veterans who had one child, Nick. Earlier this year Colonel and Mrs. Stuban lost their son to suicide as a result of one of the stupidest, most disproportionately harsh school disciplinary measures I have ever heard of.
Nick Stuban was 15 when he got caught buying artificial marijuana, a drug that is not illegal. For this he got run around the system and transferred to a different high school away from his friends and a support system he had grown up and thrived with. Not long afterwards he became depressed and took his life. This has inspired Colonel Stuban to run for School Board.
Just re-reading that bare bones account of what the Stuban family has so needlessly endured leaves me stunned. If you visit Colonel Stuban’s site you’ll see in addition a description of what a good kid Nick Stuban was and a mention of Mrs. Stuban’s activism since she took medical retirement in 1997 for Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).
For any family to suffer such loss is horrible, but for a family that has served our country for so long and in as many ways as the Stubans it is beyond unjust. It makes a non-emotional response almost impossible, but after having sat with it for a few days I’m going to try.
Colonel Stuban is obviously a very capable and educated man. His resume is impressive in many ways. If elected I believe he would very likely rise to whatever tasks he was called to.
However, his resume does not include previous work or activism in education. He has been very involved in the past year with promoting changes in disciplinary policy to prevent more such incidents as the one that led to his son’s death. I agree with this goal and applaud him for working through unimaginable pain to prevent it for others.
And while he has not received an official County GOP endorsement he has been tainted with an endorsement from that other group that seeks shamelessly to appropriate the legacy of true historic American patriots. I see no sign that he courted that endorsement though, so I will cautiously give him a pass on what would normally be a deal-breaker.
As I said, the emotion factor is high on this candidate, especially because he seems to be a truly decent man.
My own considered opinion is that I would like to see some more time elapse between recent events and Colonel Stuban holding office. If he continues his engagement in Fairfax education issues and builds a further record of service there I could very easily see voting for him in the election after this one.
Regardless, he has my gratitude for his service and my condolences for his loss. I wish him peace.
7. Theodore J. “Ted” Velkoff (Democrat) His website is here. I’m casting my third vote for Mr. Velkoff based on his ten years experience volunteering and serving at the ground level of Fairfax public schools and beyond. His resume includes numerous service positions within the education system as well as a masters degree in computer science. His two daughters are Fairfax County graduates and I think it’s commendable that he still wishes to give back to the schools from which they benefited.
Summarizing:
I recommend voting for McElveen, Moon and Velkoff.
Don’t vote for the others as they are less qualified and have visible “tea” stains.
Finally, to any Red Apple/Lorenze voters out there who have read this far: Thanks, seriously. Good on you for taking it all in. Now here’s my constructive criticism.
We should not be engaged in either/or, win/lose games when it comes to educating kids.
I disagree with Lorenze’s worldview of “Give the poor kids larger class-sizes so my rich kids can have the small classes. I pay more in taxes! I should get the good stuff! Waaa!”
That is a stupid way to view the world and ignores the obvious, if more difficult third choice: Every kid, rich and poor, should get smaller class size. Every kid should get the resources they need to become all they’re capable of. We just need to suck it up and pay for it. It’s worth it in the long run for the benefits we get from educated kids. Pay for small classes now and you’re not paying for welfare and prison in 15 years.
Or maybe just look at a poor kid and look at your own and tell yourself “There, but for the grace of God…”
Eat the apple, my pretty! Eee-hee-hee-hee!
I think we can all vote for this.
I went here tonight for your sins.
