On Friday, a judge will hear Elaine Tholen’s argument to dismiss the over 5,000 signatures her constituents submitted against her due to her neglect, incompetence, and dereliction of duty in her role as a member of the School Board. Even after 18 months of outside pressure, the Fairfax County School Board still has not presented a clear plan and scope surrounding next week’s return to school or how they plan to make up for lost academic time. We, the parents, have been begging for months for this, and are only met with crickets from our School Board representatives. But first, a reminder of how we got here.
Approximately 18 months ago, our children stopped going to school. We were in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Given so many unknown variables regarding COVID-19, it was understandable when closures began to empty workplaces, businesses, and schools. We paused our lives while the brightest minds in the world worked to handle this troubling situation. Unfortunately, all logic stopped there.
As time progressed and more knowledge regarding the virus was acquired, the threat of the virus to our children became less of a worry, but the threat to their intellectual growth and mental health grew. Throughout the country, legitimate concerns about the long-term damage of prolonged school closures on children were raised by public health experts, education officials, and parents. These concerns were echoed to the Fairfax County School Board by parents through countless emails, phone calls, rallies, and appearances at board meetings. Public Health Officials, including Fairfax County’s Public Health Advisor, Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, recommended that Fairfax County schools should reopen in the Fall. Despite these concerns, our schools remained closed. And on July 10, 2020, instead of following the guidance of public health officials and the pleas of their own constituents, the School Board made the decision to close schools for the academic year.
Since the School Board made its decision to shut down schools, they have shown no real signs of interest or preparation for return to school. Despite the countless emails, phone calls, and personal appearances by parents expressing concern regarding the continued shutdown of schools, the School Board chose to prioritize political issues, such as renaming schools, over the physical and mental wellbeing of children. Even when the majority of parents stated they wanted their children to have in-person learning, the School Board only provided 3 percent of children with that option. And most shocking, parents had to pay a fee to have their child in the classroom.
The School Board’s lack of interest and preparation in returning children to in-person learning has detrimentally impacted all of Fairfax’s children, especially special needs children, as they have not only fallen behind on their education, but have also suffered mentally as a result of social isolation.
The detrimental impact of the School Board’s lack of preparation has become even more clear as schools have begun to reopen. This lack of preparation has especially harmed special needs students, as Summer School programs that the county provides to them every summer were so understaffed this year that some families were notified that their child could not attend the scheduled programming. Making matters worse, the School Board made no accommodations for their failures, stating that if the provided “special session” for these children did not work for the parents’ schedule, then their child could not participate in the Summer School Program at all.
These clear and compounded failures by the School Board forced parents to make the decision in October 2020 to recall members of the Board for incompetence, negligence, and dereliction of duties because these failures materially and detrimentally affected the people of Fairfax County. Working through inclement weather and a global pandemic; 5,000 petition signatures were gathered to recall Elaine Tholen, the Dranesville District representative on the Board, while pursuing two other recalls. The petition to recall Ms. Tholen was submitted on July 19, 2021.
The next step in the recall for a judge to determine if Tholen did in fact neglect her duties as a school board member. However, Ms. Tholen is currently trying to make sure that she never has to stand in front of a judge and explain why her decision to shut down schools at the cost of thousands of children was the right choice. She and her legal team have filed a “Motion to Quash,” which in layman’s terms, is an attempt to dismiss the petition before the petitioner’s legitimate concerns can even be heard by a judge. This Friday, the 20th, the judge will determine whether Elaine Tholen’s “Motion to Quash” is valid.
Parents have been silenced for too long and the needs of Fairfax’s children are too dire to wait for the next election. This recall petition is the most immediate remedy for concerned parents across Fairfax County to hold Ms. Tholen and the rest of the School Board accountable for its actions. Elaine Tholen and the School Board must answer for putting every political issue ahead of what truly matters: our children.
Dee O'Neal is a single, working mother and resident of Fairfax County, where her daughter attends public school. Dee founded Open FCPS Coalition in October 2020. It is a bipartisan, grassroots, volunteer group of concerned parents and citizens from Fairfax County. The group was formed in effort to hold members of the Fairfax County School Board accountable and to keep politics out of our schools.