The race for school board: an election that hits close to home

With election day fast approaching, all eyes are on the divisive races at the national and statewide levels. However, there’s one election happening closer to home that will have a much bigger impact on the everyday lives of APS students and teachers– the race for a spot on the Arlington School Board.

This year, with two seats up for grabs and no incumbents running, the competition is as fierce as ever. There are four candidates: Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, Kathleen A. Clark, Paul Weiss, and Dr. James ‘Vell’ Rives.

Two of the candidates are endorsed by Arlington Democrats, the local chapter of the national Democratic party:

Kathleen Clark is an APS graduate. She is an Internal Auditor for Gap inc. and lives in Dominion Hills with her husband and three children, all of whom are also APS students.

At the time of publication, Zuraya Tapia-Hadley did not respond when the Current asked for an interview.

Paul Weiss, while not endorsed, is also running as a Democrat. Paul is a retired teacher of 36 years (22 at H-B Woodlawn) and an Arlington resident.

James ‘Vell’ Rives is endorsed by the Forward party and is running as an independent. Dr. Rives is a practicing psychiatrist and has been an Arlington resident for 25 years. He has two children in APS. 

Each candidate was asked four questions relating to policy and their priorities. Kathleen Clark and Vell Rives were interviewed by phone while Paul Weiss submitted a written response.

Arlington county elects one school board member per year and two during election years. Why did you decide to run now, in 2024?

Paul Weiss:

“I absolutely love teaching, and I always imagined teaching in Arlington for another decade. But the disconnect between the APS Central Office (including the school board) and Arlington’s classrooms is so acute that I felt compelled to retire and run for School Board.”

Vell Rives:

“There’s a need to have a new voice on the school board, and I’m concerned that too many good teachers are leaving APS, as well as students and families. We’re spending a lot of money on our schools and I want to make sure the community is getting a good return on our investment and that we’re keeping academic standards high.”

Kathleen Clark:

“I actually worked on the strategic plan last year. Prior to the strategic plan I was a special education PTA president for a couple years, and I’ve been involved with advocacy, both at the local and state level, for students with disabilities. Last year, two things occurred. First, I realized that I really enjoyed bringing people together in a room and having discussions with people with very diverse points of view. Simultaneously, for students with disabilities, short of being chair of AFAC, I had done all of the disability work and leadership in the schools. For me, I had taken all of the advocacy routes I could take to help our students with disabilities. Running for school board gives me the opportunity to work from a policy level and a budget level to ensure we are sending resources where resources need to go. It was important to me to continue the work in this way so I could see through the strategic plan implementation and so I could be the voice on the board for our students with disabilities.”

What’s your #1 issue?

Vell Rives:

“Again, retaining teachers. Making sure that classroom teachers have the support they need[.] I want class sizes to be smaller wherever possible, and I want to make sure that we’re not giving teachers too many non-teaching duties, because that makes their job less rewarding and also takes away from instruction time.”

Paul Weiss:

“The disconnect between APS leadership and the people who work in school buildings everyday is number 1. 1A would be class size needs to be smaller across all schools in APS.”

Kathleen Clark:

“My top issue is student culture and inclusive practices[.] One of the things I found working within my own elementary school PTAs, and working within Special Education PTAs, is that we don’t use many inclusive principles. Inclusive principles, particularly when taught early in elementary school, are really the foundation. Two of my kids are on the autism spectrum, and one of the things that we took away from that experience, in talking to counselors and behavior therapists, is teaching our kids how to integrate and develop the social skills to work with their classmates. As a school system, we don’t do the reverse. We don’t take the time to teach a typically developing student how to be a kind friend and how to include students that are different from them.”

What’s your experience with Arlington public schools?

Vell Rives:

“I have two children in APS, my daughter is a senior at Wakefield and my son is in eighth grade at Gunston. I have been serving on the school health advisory board, a board of community members and experts appointed by the school board, for six years. I’ve also volunteered in classrooms from time to time as my kids have gone through the system.”

Paul Weiss:

“I’ve taught for 22 years in APS at H-B Woodlawn 🙂 before retiring this past June to run for school board. As a teacher, I have the unique and necessary experience of having worked every day in my classes[.] Every school day and many weekends and evenings for the past 22 years in Arlington Public Schools I have taught [many different types of] students. And each of these students have parents or guardians who entrust APS with their most precious possession. I know this because I am an Arlington parent of two APS alumni, both whom struggled and experienced successes  and both whom had great allies in their school buildings to whom I’ll always be grateful.”

Kathleen Clark:

“I graduated from Yorktown, so I grew up in Arlington public schools. I started off at Taylor, then moved to Tuckahoe when I was in fourth grade, then went to Swanson, where one of my kids is now, and then I went to Yorktown. I am a lifelong Arlingtonian and I love our school system. I have three kids currently in APS, one in third grade, one in seventh grade, and one in ninth grade at Arlington tech. I have a deep working knowledge of APS, both as a student and a parent.”

There are lots of students at H-B Woodlawn who will be able to vote in the upcoming election. Why should our seniors vote for you?

Vell Rives:

“I am the only repeat candidate in this race, and I have done more campaigning than my fellow candidates. I have been to every Arlington neighborhood and every school, I’ve been to H-B Woodlawn, been to every precinct, usually multiple times. Win or lose, that experience of hearing from residents and students across the county is the greatest thing I’ve gotten from the campaigns, and I think it makes me the best candidate.”

Paul Weiss:

“I’m hoping (since I taught most of them last year) that they see me as a fair and knowledgeable person who will make our schools better for everyone.”

Kathleen Clark:

“I understand what it’s like to be a student of APS, and I also have a deep working knowledge of some of the pain points in our school system– where things aren’t working correctly. I’ll give you an example of something that’s happening right now, at your school. There’s a bus shortage. We know it’s hard to get kids to school on time. That same issue has happened at Arlington Tech and at the elementary school where my son goes. This comes down to budget. We took away benefits from some drivers, we have shifted the scales, we no longer allow drivers to get to that full, eight-hour day, and that has a direct impact on student transportation. When you take an example like that, of how we aren’t paying what other districts are and we’re not treating our bus drivers with the same level of respect, we can’t retain the drivers and we can’t recruit them either. That is a direct result of the culture and our budget, and I’m looking forward to working on both of those.”

This article has been corrected. The original article mistakenly stated that Vell Rives had resided in Arlington for 15 years while he has lived in Arlington for 25. The Current regrets this error.