Arlington School Board Candidates Clash Over Teacher Support and Safety

Arlington School Board candidates Bethany Zecher Sutton and James Vell Rives IV sparred Sept. 8 over teacher burnout, school safety and declining enrollment at an Arlington County Civic Federation forum, ARLnow reported.

Rives, a Forward Party-endorsed independent, said teachers feel unsupported and want administrators to back discipline, calling some schools an amnesty zone. He again urged restoring armed school resource officers. Zecher Sutton, the Democratic incumbent, said school security staff collaborating with police are working and that returning SROs could take three to four years even if desired.

Both discussed possible elementary closures if enrollment keeps falling and floated adding middle-grade students into underused buildings. Rives warned against building for flat enrollment and said school buildings should last a century, not decades.

Early voting for the Nov. 3 election begins Sept. 18.

Email the Arlington County School Board:
Miranda Turner, miranda.turner@apsva.us,
Kathleen Clark, kathleen.clark2@apsva.us,
Monique Bryant, monique.bryant@apsva.us,
Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, zuraya.tapiahadley@apsva.us,
Bethany Zecher Sutton, bethany.zechersutton@apsva.us,

Email the Arlington County Board/Council:
Matt de Ferranti, mdeferranti@arlingtonva.us,
Maureen Coffey, mcoffey@arlingtonva.us,
Susan Cunningham, scunningham@arlingtonva.us,
Julius D. “JD” Spain, Sr., jdspainsr@arlingtonva.us,
Takis P. Karantonis, tkarantonis@arlingtonva.us,