In America it is customary for leaders to come before their constituents to answer questions about policies, decisions that were made, goals etc. For example, the President of the United States does this for the American people, coaches of sports teams answer questions after the game for their fans, and even CEOs answer questions from their shareholders. And yet when it comes to our children and the leaders who run the Loudoun County School System (what is more important) there is no forum for asking and answering questions. They get a pass. This needs to change.
Dr. Zeigler, who received a degree in Educational leadership; needs to show more. He has said on several occasions that LCPS leaders need to have more “conversations” with the community. As far as I can tell there have been none, only one-way 60-second comments made by concerned and passionate parents and other tax-payers at bi-monthly School Board meetings. And there are no responses to those remarks, no feedback — just stares. Dr. Zeigler and members of the school board have also said during committee meetings that part of the reason for the recent turmoil between LCPS and the community is because there is a lot of misinformation being communicated. Well I have an antidote for that, come before the public, explain what is going on and answer questions.
I called the school system a few weeks ago to ask specifically if either of the two main leaders, Dr. Scott Zeiger or Board Chair Brendan Sheridan have answered questions from the public at any time over the past difficult year and the answer was no. I then asked if there if there were any plans to have a series of town halls, like other counties have had (Alexandria, Arlington, Prince William, Fairfax to name a few) to help clear up any misunderstandings that may be occurring regarding things like the LCPS 8040 policy or the Equity framework or Covid precautions and the answer again was no.
I propose that town hall meetings be a requirement for LCPS leadership. They should be held on a quarterly basis and led by the Superintendent and Chair of the school board, with rotating board members and principals. Perhaps this could help to heal the community, to reduce mistrust and misinformation and keep us strong and united moving forward. Our children deserve nothing less.
Chris Hodges
