Tag: diversity

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Review group questions police role in Fairfax County schools

By Brad Swanson:

What should be the role of cops in schools? Should armed police officers even be allowed in schools?

These were among the issues that rose to the surface in a tense meeting Monday night of a community group charged with reviewing the terms under which police officers are assigned to high schools and middle schools throughout the county.

“Kids should not be consigned to hell because they made one mistake [in school],” argued Matthew Dunne, representing the Fairfax County Council of PTAs.  Dunne and 14 others are members of the School Resource Officer (SRO) Community Review Committee, appointed by Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova to review the draft of a new memorandum of understanding between the Fairfax County School Board and the Police Department governing  the cops-in-schools policy.

The meeting was attended by about 50 members of the public, some of whom waved signs and heckled speakers. Bulova, Police Chief Ed Roessler, and School Superintendent Dr. Scott Braband bore the brunt of criticism as committee members questioned key tenets of the program and called for more time to complete their review.

Bulova defended her decision to fix an accelerated timetable of only three meetings for the SRO committee, pointing out that the new agreement had to be finalized this summer so it could take effect with the start of school on Aug. 28.

But some committee members pushed for a top-to-bottom review, and even questioned whether Fairfax should station police officers in schools at all.

“There are school systems elsewhere that have safe environments without the presence of armed guards in the schools,” said Sookyung Oh, a committee member representing National Korean American Services & Education Consortium. But Commitee Chair Shirley Ginwright, representing the Communities of Trust Committee, said the program of placing police in schools is a reality, and the question before the committee is how to improve it.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Photo Essay: Thousands rally in Washington, D.C., to bring families together

Tens of Thousands of demonstrators rallied Saturday in Washington, D.C., to protest the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy and separating children from their parents.

On a sweltering day in the capital, the crowd gathered at Lafayette Square across from the White House to protest separating thousands of children from their parents at the border and the new plan to detain families together. Some 600 “Families Belong Together” rallies were held around the country.

The rally began with Sebastian Medina-Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation addressing the crowd in Spanish and English, reminding people that this is a nation of immigrants. Then he beat the drum.

Then Jocelyn, an undocumented immigrant who didn’t want to give her full name, told of how she was separated from her son when she came to the United States from Brazil last August and she was held at a detention facility in Texas. She said that she was told that her son could be adopted. It took 9 months for them to be reunited.

Celebrities Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the smash musical “Hamilton,” singer Alicia Keys and actress America Ferrera were among the rally speakers. Miranda sang a lullaby from “Hamilton,” Keys read a letter from a mother separated from her son and Ferrera talked about being a new mother, her Honduran roots and her duty to defend justice.

After the rally, protesters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump International Hotel to the Department of Justice.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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School Board votes to make sex ed more LGBTQ inclusive

By Karen Kirk:

The Fairfax County School Board Thursday night approved changes to the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum that are more inclusive of LGBTQ students, thwarting opposition from a national right-wing media campaign.

The proposed changes include using the term “sex assigned at birth” rather than “biological sex” and informing high school students about “pre-exposure prophylaxis” or “PrEP,” a treatment to protect against HIV. The FDA in May approved Truvada for adolescents to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.

Supporters of the proposed changes outnumbered opponents in a packed auditorium at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, and several of them addressed the board.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Stopping the ICE Deportation Pipeline in Fairfax County

Tomorrow, June 6, four outstanding panelists from Fairfax for All will discuss the current situation and their past and current efforts to keep the county from assisting ICE in deportations. It is not over with the end of the jail detention agreement. The event will be a report from the Fairfax for All Coalition of 10 immigration groups that have been working with the county. The panelists will discuss what Democrats should know and what we should do.

When: Wednesday June 6,  7 – 9 PM

Where: Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) Headquarters

Sponsored by the State and Local Committee of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee

Free. Sign up here. Space is limited.

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School Board weighs changing sex ed to make it more LGBTQ inclusive

By Karen Kirk:

The Fairfax County School board heard spirited comments both for and against changing the public school sex education curriculum to make it more LGBTQ inclusive at its regular meeting Thursday, May 24.

The discussion was a precursor to the vote on June 14 on changing wording in the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum. The proposed changes include using the term  “sex assigned at birth” rather than “biological sex” and informing high school students about a pill that was recently approved for adolescents to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.

Paul Wooldridge, who has two children who attended the Fairfax County Public Schools system, one of them transgender, spoke movingly of his son’s experience.  “Now FCPS has many teachers and administrators who recognize the rights and needs of transgender students. However my son’s experience showed that there are plenty of students and a few teachers that were not so understanding and accepting of the person he is.”

“He was teased and degraded in the halls by fellow students,” continued Wooldridge. “He was also intimidated by a few faculty members in apparent attempts to make him feel shame or lesser of a person. This unsolicited treatment was dished out in spite of my son’s attempts to proactively educate the faculty and fellow school students about the transgender issues and human rights.”

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Defend Fairfax County Public Schools on May 24 and June 14

WE NEED YOUR HELP TOMORROW, THURSDAY MAY 24 AND THURSDAY, JUNE 14!

The Fairfax County School Board is considering changes to the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum that will make it more LGBTQ-inclusive and help protect the health of ALL students. As a result, powerful anti-equality forces are mobilizing to stop this from happening. They will be showing up at the School Board meetings on Thursday, May 24 and Thursday, June 14. We can’t let them succeed!

DOWNLOAD THIS FLYER (PDF)

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Immigrants have been a big part of Virginia’s success

By Karen Kirk:

Immigration has helped Virginia rise from poverty to affluence, notes Sen. Tim Kaine.

Kaine does the numbers: In 1968, only 1% of Virginians were immigrants and the state ranked 38th in income per person. Today, immigrants make up 11% and we have shot up to become the 12th richest state  in terms of per capita income.

Although correlation is not necessarily causation, Kaine believes that “people from other nations have found Virginia to be a place where they can come and find opportunity” and that this “has been such a huge part of our success.”

Kaine was speaking at a press conference for Asian and Latino news outlets on May 21 at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee headquarters.

Read the rest at The Blue View

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Sue Langley and Tae Chang Woo honored at Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia dinner

The Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia (DAAV) honored former Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) Chair Sue Langley and President of the Korean American Society of Virginia Tae Chang Woo at its Fourth Annual Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Awards Dinner on Sunday May 20, 2018 at the Pakistani restaurant  Sapphire in Tysons. Elected officials including Gov. Ralph Northam spoke at the award ceremony.

Sue Langley and Tae Chang Woo were presented with the 2018 Joe Montano Community Engagement Awards.  Joe Montano was a prominent Virginian community organizer and activist who served as Northern Virginia Regional Director of Constituent Services for Senator Tim Kaine, and worked on a number of campaigns for the Democratic Party of Virginia.

Sue Langley was FCDC Chair for two terms, from 2014 to 2017.  She started in politics as a volunteer with the Wesley Clark campaign in the 2004 primary and then worked for John Kerry in the general campaign.  She was active with the Hunter Mill Democrats and served as FCDC Vice Chair for Precinct Operations.  Sue has hosted numerous canvasses, phone banks, picnics, and fundraisers at her home in Flint Hill precinct.  Sue Langley grew up in Thailand, received her Ph.D. in economics from Iowa State University and was a senior economist and branch chief at the Department of Agriculture.

Read the rest at The Blue View