5 Things to Know About Dranesville School Board Candidate

Long-time parent activist and McLean resident Louise Epstein announced her candidacy for the Dranesville District school board seat currently held by school board member Jane Strauss Sunday afternoon.

Five things to know about Epstein:

1. She is the mother of three daughters all of whom attended Fairfax County schools. Her oldest daughter is a senior at Cal Tech where she majored in physics. Her 17-year-old twin daughters graduate from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

2. She and her husband moved their family from Arlington to Fairfax County in 1992 because of the reputation of Fairfax County schools.

3. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She met her husband in law school. She worked for 15 years as a tax lawyer including five years at the U.S. Treasury Department.

4. She was born in the Bronx in New York City  and grew up in public housing on Staten Island because her father was disabled. She said her father is Jewish. Her mother is Japanese.

5. She loves music. She worked as a church organist at Catholic, Methodist and Korean churches and played at weddings to pay her way through law school. She wanted to major in music but feared she couldn't make a living from it, she said.

Her Announcement Party

Epstein announced her candidacy at the home of friends on MacArthur Drive in Franklin Park  before a crowd of more than 100  people. Those in attendance included Del. Barbara Comstock, (R-McLean, Great Falls, Loudoun County),  former school board member Steve Hunt, a Republican, now running for Virginia State Senate and Steve Greenburg, president of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, whose name tag said, "Janie's Nightmare" under his name.

"I'm friends with Louise for three years. . . Louise would do an excellent job," Greenburg said.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), who helped introduce Epstein said, "This school board is a rubber stamp for the administration. We need school board members that are responsive to you."

Epstein said,"We now spend too much on general administration. I want to move that money into the schools. If we have fewer of them (administrators) there would be fewer burdens on the teachers."

Epstein said she is running with school board candidates Elizabeth Schultz, of the Springfield District, At-Large candidates Sharee Brown-Kaplan and Lolita Mancheno-Smoak as a "reform slate."

Catherine  Lorenze, who writes the Red Apple Mom blog is Epstein's campaign manager.

Jane Strauss the incumbent Dranesville school board member,  announced her candidacy for reelection May 31.

All 12 seats on the county school board are up for election this year. Three of them are at-large seats. This is a nonpartisan election although both the Democratic and Republican parties endorse candidates.