Dems Endorse School Board At-Large Candidates

The Fairfax County Democratic Committee, in a lively meeting, finally endorsed three candidates for the three at-large seats in this year's school board election .

McLean resident Greg Brandon, a former Chesterbrook Elementary PTSA president who was running for an at-large seat, failed to secure the party's endorsement.

After two rounds of ballot voting and several special motions, party members endorsed incumbent Ilryong Moon, Charisse Espy Glassman and Ted Velkoff as their candidates in November’s Fairfax County School Board elections.

The Fairfax County School Board consists of nine members elected from specific districts and three elected at large. All the seats are up for election this year.

The party's  Tuesday  night meeting in Falls Church became heated when the group voted to depart from its bylaws and award two endorsements without a majority.

“I think we chose three great candidates,” said Marc Greidinger, a Braddock District Board of Supervisors candidate and FCDC member. “What I tried to do in each vote was choose different people with different strengths. And with these three candidates, I think we’ve accomplished that. It was a messy way to do it, but we did it.”

The committee endorses three at-large school board candidates for each school board election, along with the candidates endorsed by each of the nine county district FCDC committees.

But its bylaws say it will endorse only candidates who get a majority of member votes. Moon was the only candidate of six to receive that majority after the first round of voting Tuesday night, sending FCDC members back to the ballots to vote for two of the four remaining candidates: , Glassman and Velkoff. Candidate Maria Allen did not receive enough votes to make it to the second round.

A second ballot vote, which was taken after 60 members had left the meeting, left Glassman with 136 votes, Velkoff with 129, McElveen with 122 and Brandon with 117 –  all still short of a majority, and still too close, some members said, to declare support for two more candidates.

Under current bylaws, the group would have moved forward with just one endorsed candidate: Moon. When committee members opened a motion to either delay the endorsement to its July meeting or to simply award endorsements to the top two vote-getters, members became emotional, yelling from the podium or at their district tables as they argued for or against continuing with the vote.

Several — such as current school board members Sandy Evans and Tina Hone — said they would not support an exception to the rules the FCDC had adopted for itself.

“It is contrary to everything I have stood for,” Hone said. “I think Fairfax County residents are worth more than this. If it means we have to wait to do it, we have to wait to do it.”

Some committee members argued following the rules would put forward just one Democratic candidate, and in an election year that also puts many Republicans up for school board seats, the move could do more harm than good.  

“We cannot put a bitter taste in any Democrat's mouth, or go against Republicans without three endorsed candidates,” one member said.

“We need to discuss this without emotion and rhetoric, and I don’t think that can be done tonight.”

But members ultimately voted, by a narrow margin, to push forward with the vote, and again 142 to 77 to support the top two candidates along with Moon.

“I’m going to do my best to represent everyone in this room,” Velkoff, who edged McElveen by just seven votes, said after the meeting. “I know there are a lot of different opinions in this room, I’m going to make sure to reach out to all of them.”

Glassman said she looked forward to continuing her fight to lower class sizes and close the achievement gap.

“It’s not a win for me, it’s a win for all the kids in Fairfax County,” she said. “There are three stakeholders in this process: the teachers, the parents and the students. The No. 1 stakeholder is kids, and that’s who I’m working for. This was a vote for kids.”  

Brandon said he would not run without FCDC endorsement.

The FCDC also endorsed the Democratic candidates recommended by each district. Providence has not yet chosen a candidate:

• Patricia Hynes (Hunter Mill) 
• Jane K.Strauss (Dranesville, incumbent)
• Sandra Evans (Mason, incumbent)
• Megan McLaughlin (Braddock)
• Tamara Derenak Kaufax (Lee)
• Daniel Storck (Mt. Vernon, incumbent)
• John Wittman (Springfield)
• Kathy Smith (Sully, incumbent)

The Fairfax County Republicans will endorse their candidates in June.