On Saturday, May 20, the Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC) holds an election to endorse a candidate for Arlington School Board. The election will be held at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), 4301 Wilson Blvd., from 2 PM to 9 PM. Today, I had the privilege of talking with one of the two candidates for this endorsement, Sally Baird (see photo; Sally's on the right), for over an hour. It was a very pleasant hour that went by fast, largely because Sally is an extremely intelligent, engaging, enthusiastic person. We discussed a great deal, enough to convince me that Ms. Baird really knows what she's talking about. In this article, I'll just review the highlights of our conversation.
In response to my standard question, "why are you running and why should people vote for you over your opponent," Sally essentially gave me a five-fold answer:
1) She brings a new perspective to things, sees things "in a new way."
2) She "actually [has] kids in the system."
3) She lives in diverse South Arlington, where many of the biggest challenges facing the Arlington school system lie.
4) She has been a manager for years, and "staffing issues are something I really get."
5) She considers herself a "bridge builder" by nature.
In addition, Sally talked a great deal about her ability to bring people together and get them talking to each other, to listen to what others are saying, and to be an effective manager in terms of making sure "everything works together." For instance, although noting that the Arlington school system was "really good," Sally stressed the need for the School Board and County Board to work even more closely together to make things even better than they are now. The bottom line for Sally Baird is that, for the children of Arlington, "nothing else is acceptable" than everyone working together to make things as good as they possibly can be.
How does Sally Baird believe you get people to work together? Mainly, by "creating a bigger vision that people believe in" so that they "want to work together." And, Sally points out, this is exactly what she's done in her professional life and at the Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance (AGLA).
On "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) and Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, Sally believes that each has positive aspects, but overall that they don't address the "fundamental problems" they are supposed to resolve. In addition, NCLB and SOLs tend to "create a bad climate in the classroom," "throw remediation at the problem at great cost," "disserve many special ed students," and sometimes result in cuts to important course work - social studies, arts, music - besides reading and math. All in all, Sally Baird believes that NCLB actually "leaves a lot of kids behind."
Another big issue for Sally Baird is making sure that teachers and students can afford to live in the community where they teach and learn. Right now, in Sally's view, the lack of affordable housing is driving both teachers and students out of Arlington.
In terms of teachers, Sally believes that we end up spending more money to recruit and retrain new teachers (perhaps 150% of their salary) than we would to help them live in the community by providing them with housing assistance. For instance, Barrett Elementary recently lost two teachers to affordable housing issues, even though the teachers loved what they were doing and were proud of Barrett's innovative professional development programs. Sally believes that's very unfortunate, and a mistake in that "over the long-term, you're going to save more money if you keep teachers here."
All told, according to Sally Baird, only 40% of Arlington teachers now live in Arlington, and most of those are older teachers who bought their homes a long time ago, when prices were much lower. Sally points out that when teachers live further away, the resultant longer commutes leads to lower morale, higher absenteeism, greater turnover, and increased difficulty in building "the next generation of leadership" in Arlington schools. If elected to the Arlington County School Board, Sally Baird plans on making this issue - helping teachers live in the communities where they teach - one of her top priorities.
Another important issue for Sally is maintaining the Arlington School system's diversity, and managing the system during a period of rapid change. For instance, gentrification in certain neighborhoods (Sally cited Buckingham Village as a prime example) can cause damage to the "support structure" for students attending school there, above and beyond the unfortunate loss of diversity. In Sally's view, this is a major challenge the Arlington School Board will be coping with in coming years, and one on which it will need to work together with the County Board as well.
Finally, Sally emphasized the importance of "creating a culture of welcomeness" for parents from all backgrounds at Arlington schools. This can be as simple as "saying 'hello' to people" or "walking the hallways of the schools," both of which she says she does frequently.
In sum, Sally Baird strikes me as a highly articulate, energetic, and well-qualified candidate for Arlington School Board. Her list of endorsements reflects this. I look forward to talking to Sally's Democratic opponent, Sharon Davis, in the near future. Thanks again to Sally for spending over an hour with me today, and for sharing her views so forthrightly.