Campaign News

It has been an honor to serve the community as a school board representative for several years. It is something I do not take for granted, because to be successful in this, one must have the full participation and feedback of parents, whether it be in school site meetings, public hearings, small groups or the final feedback at the polls. I also get feedback at home, where my wife is a public school teacher and my sons have been FCPS students. When I’m sitting in the cheering section of my sons’ basketball or soccer games or at church, parents tend to talk to me too. Having been an ESL student myself who went on to law school, I know the challenges many of our students face and yet I believe in having high expectations for our students.

It is said that of all the at-large candidates, I have the most experience serving on the school board, first as an at-large school board member in 1995 then as the Braddock District representative to the school board (1996-1999) and returning in 2004 as at-large representative, serving as School Board Chairman in 2006 and Vice-Chairman in 2005. If re-elected, I intend to push for expanding full-day kindergarten programs throughout the county and fight to maintain programs that produce well-rounded, excellent students. I am a member of the Governor’s Urban Policy Task Force and a former member of the Virginia Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the Fairfax County Planning Commission.

Our greatest challenge is to help all our students reach their full potential and be prepared for the global competition of the 21st century. High stakes testing under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) leads to looking at students as a part of a group rather than as individuals, yet we should not forget that each student is unique. Our teachers should be provided with increasingly better training and tools to help guide each student to set his or her own goals and achieve success.

I believe that it is teachers, and not gadgets, that teach. Therefore, we need to have the best teachers with very competitive salaries, benefits, support, and a teaching environment that attracts and retains excellent teachers. We need to increase teacher support if we are to continue expanding the full-day kindergarten program countywide and introduce foreign language to students at an early grade in elementary school.

I support the school board’s current efforts to study the later school day start time for middle and high schools if it can be done without unaffordable financial burdens on the school system. Evaluation of implementing a full school day on Mondays will have to be done in context of student achievement and teacher planning time as much as convenience to families. That will require a discussion among all parties involved, especially teachers and parents.

We need to involve parents more in our efforts to reduce the minority achievement gap. We also need to keep our schools safe and help our students avoid risky behaviors. I will work to bring reasonable improvements to NCLB in the areas where requirements are too rigid to be educationally beneficial to students. Your support November 6 is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Ilryong Moon