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(1) Academic achievement. Students must be prepared for real-world jobs or college. I want to see Arlington's performance making gains against other Virginia counties and neighboring states. I support equity of opportunity and getting extra help to the kids who need it, not lowering of standards.
(2) Substance abuse and (3) safety. The surge of drugs in schools coincided with removing our Resource Officers (School Police). We should reinstate our SRO program.
(4) The current transgender policy. Inclusion is a good thing, but inclusion goes too far when it means males in girls' locker rooms. We should revise the policy to provide girls exclusive spaces while providing appropriate, respectful accommodations for students who need them.
As a practicing psychiatrist, I know the importance of school counselors—not only for intervention and referral, but for building ongoing relationships. I support universal mental health screening.
APS also needs more community-building and face-to-face interaction. The “Away for the Day” cell phone policy has helped; school-issued devices should likewise be tools, not constant companions. Younger children especially benefit from a screen-free day.
Mental health programming should avoid over-formalization. Too many class presentations on self-harm and emotions are unpleasant and just heighten anxiety. That time could be better spent on whole-class games, creative projects, and outdoor activities that reduce stress and build friendships.
Our schools are the single biggest investment that Arlington makes as a county, and we spend more per student than any other Virginia county or Washington, DC. We deserve to get our money's worth.
And now we are in a tight spot. Our federal funding is in question, and our School Board depleted our reserves over the past 10 years. If I'm elected, I won't be stingy, but I will be smart. I will insist that we spend where it matters most: on instruction. That's classroom teachers and the materials they need to succeed, not bureaucracy or pet projects. To stabilize our budget, we also need to prioritize maintenance and upgrading of existing facilities rather than expensive new projects.
AI seems to be writing everything now, and it's awful. But it's not going away, so we need to teach students to use AI wisely; it's a tool, not a shortcut, and never a substitute for thinking.
At the same time, we have to make sure students can still write from scratch - and recognize what good, real writing looks like. That means teachers will need to assign more in-class writing (with no screens) to see what students can do on their own.
I'm undecided about how useful AI-detection software will be for teachers. Rather, I think we should regard AI like we do calculators in math: it's already out there and here to stay. Our job is to teach students how to use it well, and how to do the work without it when they need to.
I feel for students who are affected by immigration politics. I can't imagine how scary that must be for them. As a public school, our charge is to educate all the children who live in Arlington County without regard to immigration status, and that is as it should be.
APS does not (and should not) have an immigration policy, and APS is not required to assist with enforcement. At the same time, we cannot interfere with legal immigration enforcement. Some APS schools are losing Title I funding because families are not reporting income, likely for fear of deportation. Similarly, students who qualify for free lunch are not enrolling in that benefit. I will support APS's several existing methods of ensuring no child goes hungry at school.
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