Schools

Five Minutes With At-Large School Board Candidate Charisse Espy Glassman

Falls Church resident wants to lower class size, close achievement gap

Charisse Espy Glassman, of Falls Church, received one of last month for an at-large seat on the Fairfax County School Board.

Over the years, Glassman has become more involved in Fairfax County Public Schools, currently serving on two school board committees and the PTA of her fourth-grade son's school.

At A Glance:

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Educational Background:

A bachelor's degree in English and Spanish from Southern University; a master's in International Law from The American University.

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Community Involvement:

Current: Education Chair of the NAACP; member of Advanced Academics Advisory Committee

Previous: Member of Minority Student Achievement Oversight Advisory Committee; Legislative Chair of the Fairfax County Council of PTAs; FCPS substitute teacher; Board Member of Nyumbani, a school and orphanage for children living with AIDS in Kenya; Beth El House Board

Campaign website:

http://goglassman.com/

Why are you running for at-large school board member?

The reason that I'm running for school board is that I'm very passionate about education. I was the oldest of three children, and I grew up in a small town [Clarksdale, Miss.]. My mother is a retired schoolteacher. My father was the first African-American to serve on the school board, and so they gave me a desire to want to do more for my community and also want to make schools better.

Also, I'm running for school board because of three issues. One is class size. As a Fairfax County substitute teacher, I know that you cannot teach a school that has 30 to 35 children, the maximum amount, in a classroom setting. You just can't reach all of them. The second issue I'm concerned with is closing the achievement gap. For our African-American and Hispanic-American children, this is a very important issue. And the third important issue for me is the discipline issue. I've had several opportunities to sit in the audience and also testify in front of the school board on issues. I am currently the education chair of the NAACP and I have written to all our school board members concerning the discipline issue and the fact that Jack Dale's 10-point proposal does not go far enough.

How do plan on addressing class size and the achievement gap?

First of all, class size is an important issue. Class size actually transcends into closing the achievement gap. If you have 30 to 35 kids in a classroom, and it's overcrowded, you really cannot help kids learn. I also want to say that when I talk to teachers and parents, that's actually the most important thing they tell me they're concerned about. It is unfair to our teachers, it is unfair to our parents to have children in class sizes that are very overcrowded.

Secondly, closing the achievement gap, I think, is an issue that is very serious and I'm passionate about it. I served on the Minority Student Achievement Oversight Advisory Committee, and we came up with a couple recommendations. One, we have to invest in pre-K, and then we have to invest in [kindergarten] through third grade. We find that our African-American and Hispanic-American children are coming to school and they don't have the basic reading and writing. We need to invest in some preschool education and primary education to get them up speed.

Now what we've also seen in the gap is that children come to school with deficiencies that start the gap, but then when they get to third grade there's the SOLs, the Standards of Learning tests. We've found that African-American kids and Hispanic-American kids are making the equivalent of a grade of D+ through C-. When they get to the eighth grade, we're seeing that they've decreased even further, so this is where the big gap comes.

I've also had the chance to sit on the Advanced Academic Advisory Committee. Now what we've found there when we talk about Advanced Academic Placement courses, our Hispanic- and African-American children are not represented at all. We looked at BC math and higher math courses and they're not in these classes at all. So I would invest in some math courses, readiness reading in our [kindergarten] through third grade classes.

What else would you like to see changed in the disciplinary policies?

I first must say thank you to the school board members. I was in the audience and was featured in the Washington Post protesting on the night they were making the disciplinary changes, and I have to congratulate school board members Tina Hone and Ilryong Moon and Sandy Evans for coming forward and presenting amendments to the disciplinary procedures.

One thing I would change that wasn't addressed, and I think School Board Member Tina Hone suggested they go to work session in the next month, is on parental notification. It's a collaborative team between the parents and schools. The parents are really at the center of wanting to help their children. So you involve the parents and let them know before the child is questioned, before they have a confession written down on a piece of paper on what they may or may not have done. Children are intimidated by school officials sometimes. Even Mr. [Keegan] Cotton [the student representative to the school board] said that when he was brought in front of the disciplinary proceedings he felt much better when his parents came. So we've had some specific evidence that we can point to that when parents are involved, that really makes a difference in our children and the way we view the system. It's not punitive. Fear deters learning, and we want our children to be in a learning environment.

How did you become involved with FCPS and the school board?

Well, I am currently the education chair of the Fairfax County NAACP, and I also sat on two boards over the course of 10 years. I sat on the Minority Oversight Advisory Achievement Committee, which I was appointed to by school board members. And I was appointed by School Board Member Tina Hone to the Advanced Academic Advisory Committee. I was the legislative chair to the Fairfax County Council PTAs. So just over the years I've grown to become more and more involved. I'm also involved in the PTA of my son's school. I have a strong connection to the school system and a passion for public education.


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