School Board Raises

There is an article in Leesburg Today about School Board raises. Elected officials are in an odd position in that they set their own salaries. I am quoted accurately in the story, but I’d like to flesh out my position on this and of course invite input on the subject from others. I think I’ll do this by raising the objections I have heard and answering them.

1) People will serve only for the money
Anybody who’s in this for the money was terribly misinformed from the very beginning. Anyone who can figure out how to get elected can make more money doing almost anything else with their time. On an hourly basis, politics isn’t even a minimum-wage job. All those rich people you see in office… they were rich first. Not only does the job itself require more hours than the dollars pay for, there’s usually several months of campaigning that are completely unpaid… with no guarantee that the campaign will be successful. Almost every candidate will spend more of their own money on a single campaign than they will earn from their office’s salary. If a candidate doesn’t spend his own money then they manage to talk other people out of theirs. While not everyone gets elected with a pure heart, it’s a fool who gets elected to pad his pocket.
Combine that with the fact that unless you’re retired, this work is in addition to your full-time job. Regular morning and afternoon meetings and events ensure that you’ll regularly take a pay cut at that job to work this one.
Only a fool tries to do it for the money.

2) There isn’t enough work to justify a salary
Everyone knows that this is an enormous amount of work, but some insist on making this silly argument anyway. Even Warren Guerin, possibly the hardest working member, remarked "this isn't a full-time job." I invite you to follow one of us around for a week as we leave the house at the same time every morning as everyone else, but arrive home sometime after 10pm. Outside of being where we need to be, we must read the equivalent of a small book each week in prep materials and correspondence. Most weeks, I see the other members of the Board more than I see my wife. I enjoy every moment and Lori is supportive without hesitation, so no complaints. It's a lot of work though.

3) The raise is a huge increase of over 65%. The teachers only got 5% because of budget cuts this year. It sends the wrong message.
As I said from the dais, this is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t argument. Inflation happens, and the alternative to the occasional big jump is a raise every year. Think of the kind of criticism that would bring.

4) Some members don’t need the money.
This is true. But some do. The American ideal is the citizen legislator… average people of average means to deciding together how the community is to be run. Without a salary, very few people of average means could take the time to serve. Without a salary, only the wealthy could do it.

So, as awkward as it is to vote a raise for one's self, nobody else can do it, and occasionally it has to be done.

Graduations over (almost)

Yesterday I attended the Park View and Potomac Falls High School graduation ceremonies. With this morning's ceremonies for the grads at Dominion and Loudoun Valley, another round is complete. Well, almost. On August 11th will be the summer school graduation, for those kids who couldn't quite get it done by June. I imagine the frustration, embarrassment and anger they must be feeling. They were left out of one of life's great rights of passage, not able to celebrate with their friends. All of the fanfare is over, and they missed it.

When my own college graduation came around, I was just one paper shy of finishing just one class. For better or worse, that class was a core requirement for my major, and I was therefore one class short of graduating. I called my professor and alternately attempted to charm and cajole her. I promised to complete it as soon as I got home. It worked, and she gave me a B on the paper before I'd ever written it. I walked across the stage and collected my diploma, knowing I hadn't quite earned it the way my classmates had.

It was terribly difficult to motivate myself to write that paper during the summertime, but I did, eventually. When I heard back from her that she had received, reviewed and accepted that paper, that's when I finally felt good about graduating. It was as if I had my own summer school session, and private commencement. And when people ask when I graduated, I tell them... 1992. Nobody cares which month it was.

So, all you summer school grads... hang in there. August 11th will be here soon and your graduation will be just as real as the ones in June. You'll still have family and friends telling you they're proud of you. And I'll be there with you, in more ways than you know.

Summer School Transportation

I got a call on Tuesday from a father in my district whose child has signed up for summer school. He is not happy with the transportation arrangements for summer school, which aren't the same as for the regular school year. For summer school there are no neighborhood pickups. The only pickups are at other school locations. So for my area, buses pick up kids from all of the surrounding Elementary, Middle and High schools and transport them to Potomac Falls High school. I'll presume that nearly all kids can get a ride to the nearest school in the morning, but kids without an afternoon ride (not uncommon at 1pm on a weekday) will need to walk home from those schools, sometimes a distance of up to 2 miles in my suburban area. Sometimes along roads with no pedestrian access.

Years ago, there were neighborhood stops. Determining those stops lead to tremendous rancor regarding favoritism between different parents and neighborhoods. Rather than continue to be the target of hostility, the Transportation staff decided to settle it by establishing the current no-exceptions policy. This is one of many good examples of how a few angry parents, trying to get a minor short-term convenience for their own child and using the time-tested strategy of making life difficult for people, make life more difficult for everybody.

I still need to find out why summer school only lasts until 1pm.

Science Commencements

During the past week I attended two graduations for Loudoun students specializing in science studies. First was our own Loudoun Academy of Science, and then on Saturday was Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. These students deserve special recognition because their high school experience involves travel to a school away from the rest of their friends. They are rewarded for their extensive commute times with exceptional homework loads and extremely high expectations.

They are among the most academically gifted of our community, a gift one cannot choose. But they do choose to work very hard, to explore, to achieve at great cost to their time with family and friends. Loudoun does a great service to these students by giving them exceptional opportunities in conjunction with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Fairfax County schools. (HHMI sponsors lunches with scientists, including Nobel laureates. Fairfax County owns TJ and permits a limited number of Loudoun students to attend each year). This exceptional opportunity ensures that their curiosity, passion and talents are primed for success at our best universities.

You can find a story about the Academy of Science graduation here, including a list of graduates.

TJ Grads included:

• Stephen Ammann
• Winn Chen
• Elias Clizbe
• Anne Cotter
• Scott Fernandez
• Boris Kiseley
• Kimberley Lauder
• Lisa Meintel
• Ashabari Nayak
• Sarah Pak
• Francisco Pareja-Lecaros
• Anastasia Rumiantsev
• Yan Song
• Brian Stoepker
• Nathaniel Stoltz
  

Recycling Update

I'm providing a link here to the recycling presentation that I referenced in the previous post, for those of you who want detailed information:

Loudoun County Public Schools Recycling Program

Of note:

• LCPS recycled 238 tons of paper, 21.6 tons of cans and bottles and 7,400 fluorescent tubes in FY2006. This is greater than the combined amounts recycled in the 10 years from 1993-2002.
  
• LCPS also recycles Toner Cartridges, Computer monitors, anti freeze and motor oil
• The net cost for the program in FY2006 was $5,500.
  

I visited Hamilton Elementary this morning and learned that by working together with parents to recycle toner cartridges and cell phones, they were able to raise enough money to buy two smart boards for the school! I hope other schools will contact Hamilton's TRT (Mrs. Neville), to learn how to implement the program.

Recycling in Schools

The Board received a presentation on Tuesday evening regarding recycling in Loudoun's schools. With nearly 60,000 students and personnel, LCPS is a major consumer of resources and collectively we can have a tremendous impact on the amount of waste sent to the county's Landfill. The presentation was made by Mr. Bill Kolster, who is the Director of Facilities Services. Mr. Kolster manages the recycling program, coordinating the effort among our 68 schools and various other facilities.

LCPS does not mandate recycling, and the level of participation is largely up to the staff at each individual school. That makes it remarkable that we now recycle more than 90% of the 8,000 fluorescent lights that burn out each year. In fact, the practice of recycling has grown so quickly that in the 2005-06 school year, we recycled more paper, bottles, lights and other materials than in the previous 10 years combined.

Many high schools have recycling clubs which encourage and manage the program at their own locations. Students who want to see their school do more should contact Mr. Kolster through their school's recycling club to get materials and support.

Recycling is largely a practice implemented by the staff, in particular the school custodians. The students, faculty and staff and Park View High School are particularly aggressive about their recycling and were recognized last fall for those efforts by Keep Loudoun Beautiful.

After applauding the progress and accomplishments already made in any are of our schools, a Board member must ask: What's the next step? What are the hurdles? How can we do better? The key to improving this program lie first in realizing that it has been implemented on the initiative of Mr. Kolster, school-based staff and students and the folks from the transportation department who provide extensive help along the way. This was not a Board initiative with policies and paperwork and unfunded mandates. This was not a new front office position paid for with taxpayer funds. This is just people making something happen, and a smart Board won't get in their way.

That said, I would like to see a plan to track how much recycling each school does of each commodity it recycles. Knowing how much we recycle allows us to set goals for annual improvement and test new ways of encouraging higher levels of recycling. One method of encouragement I would like to see is a competition between schools. I can envision an end-of-year "green school" awards ceremony for those schools with the highest rates or greatest improvement in recycling and energy savings.

I won't initiate a new top-down process, because the grass-roots process has worked so well, but ensuring that we don't plateau at our current level may require a budget allocation to be used for monitoring, for greater visibility, for cash awards to the principals funds and conservation clubs of schools who lead the way. I hope to see that in Dr. Hatrick's proposed budget this fall. I encourage local groups such as Keep Loudoun Beautiful, the Loudoun County Committee for a Sustainable Society and others to join in as well to ensure our success at improving upon this already great achievement.

Hatrick's Review

On Monday night the School Board met to provide Superintendent Ed Hatrick his annual review. The process and comments made are confidential of course, but I do feel that it marks an appropriate time to comment on Dr. Hatrick's performance publicly. I'll paraphrase here the remarks I made from the dais at last night's public meeting.

This morning Washington D.C. appointed its seventh Superintendent in 10 years. Contrast this with Loudoun County, where Dr. Hatrick has been at the helm for 16 years. He is a graduate of Loudoun County public schools and has worked as a teacher and administrator for over 40 years. While nearly everyone can point to difficulties and challenges we face, there is nobody who can make the case that LCPS is not an excellent system, or that Dr. Hatrick has not been the biggest force in shaping the schools as we know them today.

I could go on about his leadership not just locally but at the state and national levels. I could provide a more detailed analysis of his management. But I'm not going to venture into cheerleading here, I'm just going to state unequivocally that we are extremely luck to have him.

Election Paperwork

I received confirmation this morning that my application to be on the ballot on November 6th came through today. I gathered signatures with the help of friends and supporters (see previous post) and filled out the rest of the paperwork. Many thanks to Judy, Diana and the friendly staff at the registrar's office for quick turnaround.

I wrote up a little press release and sent it to the reporters for whom I have email addresses. You can read it here. A press release is a funny thing to write for myself, because it speaks of me in the third person. It seemed the appropriate thing to do though.

The strangest part was trying to cite a few issues that I find important and have put effort into, just because I have worked on so many issues already and they're all very important. I picked a few that I thought would be distinctive.

This isn't the first time that I have run for office, but it's the first time that my run isn't symbolic. I expect to win this election and be an effective representative through at least December 2011 when the next Board's term expires. I appreciate the encouragement of so many who have been pleased with my first few months on the job.

One last important note. Though I am the incumbent, I have contemplated that this is not a re-election because I wasn't elected, I was selected. Not one person from the district I represent had an opportunity to vote for me back in February. My aim now is to convince everyone in the Potomac District that given the chance, they would have anyway. I'll see you out on the campaign trail...

Voter Registration Drive

Yesterday I turned in all of my paperwork to be added to the ballot as a candidate in the November 2007 election. Part of that process requires gathering at least 125 signatures of registered voters from within my district on petitions asking that my name be placed on the ballot. With the help of friends and supporters I gathered well over 200 signatures. I was shocked to find out that in an apartment neighborhood called Huntington Square where we gathered nearly 75 signatures, not one of the people who signed were registered to vote.

This neighborhood is among the least expensive housing options in my area, and many of the residents are immigrants, some of whom are not eligible to vote. It's an accepted fact that less affluent people are less likely to register to vote, and because they are rental apartments the residents are more transitory. Nonetheless, finding that absolutely none of the people we encountered were registered to vote is a tremendous shock to me. More than that, it places a moral obligation on the elected officials of this district to implement a voter registration drive in that neighborhood.

If I had known that so few people in Huntington Square are registered to vote, it would not have been any advantage to me as an elected official to walk those sidewalks and listen to the concerns of those residents. In the fall, candidates will use 'street sheets' of registered voters to walk through communities seeking support and listening to the concerns of voters. They will skip the houses with no registered voters. They will skip this neighborhood entirely if there are so few registered voters within, they will not hear about what is important to those citizens.

I am therefore making it my personal responsibility to organize a voter registration drive in the Huntington Square apartments in time for the 2007 elections. I will call on the other candidates and elected officials in this area to participate with me in this drive. And I hope to inspire others who are or wish to be elected to office to identify similar neighborhoods in their districts and empower the residents there to have a say in the way the world works through their vote.

More to come...

CAMPUS Graduation

On Wednesday evening I attended the graduation ceremony for CAMPUS program graduates, minority students who will be the first in their families to go to college. First, I want to congratulate these 50-odd young men and women for being pioneers in their families and communities. It is important for people in families where college is an expectation to remember that this widespread college accessibility is recent phenomenon that many families have yet to envision for their children.

According to this 2000 white paper, only 25% of Americans are college graduates and just over half of Americans have attended any college at all. We've come a long way from the days of my father's childhood when three quarters of Americans weren't even high school graduates and only 5% were college graduates. We've come so far by encouraging students who might not have considered college as a viable option for themselves in a grand variety of ways.

Jay Mathews is an education columnist for the Washington Post, and recently wrote a piece called Multiplying Benefits of College for Everybody. In it, he cites studies showing the substantial benefit to people of every educational and economic level in attending college. I have read other, equally convincing pieces that suggest we are focusing too much on college and not enough on technical disciplines. There are two arguments against sending everyone to college. One is that a college degree is only advantage when not everybody has one. The second is that so many college grads spend a hundred thousand dollars or more on a liberal arts education and then start their career in low-paying entry-level jobs, whereas a high school grad with an education in auto maintenance or technology can easily make over $50K/year right out of the gate and with no further educational expenses.

I'm not in a position to mediate this dispute, so I'm setting it aside to get back to the most important point. There are many families in this great country who are waiting for one of their own to attend college. LCPS has a great program to help students in these families be leaders even in their young years, and both the students and the folks who keep this program going deserve a big round of applause from everyone in our community.