ELECTION 2023: Three Chopt District school board candidates speak about transgender student policies, student misconduct, and more

All three candidates running for the Three Chopt District seat on the Henrico School Board spoke with the Citizen recently about several hot-button issues within the county and the state.

Eleina Espigh, a director of enterprise data at Capital One; Madison Irving, a school teacher in Chesterfield County; and Kristen Vithoulkas, a retired auditor and accountant, all are running for the seat, which current board member Micky Ogburn is vacating after nearly a decade in office.

All candidates are required to run as independents, but, partisan politics has a clear marker on this race. Espigh has been endorsed by U.S. Congressman Rob Wittman (R-First District) and has attended several political events alongside State Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico) and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Irving has campaigned alongside the Henrico Democrats and has been endorsed by U.S. Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-Seventh District) and U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (D-Fourth District).

Vithoulkas has described herself as a “moderate” and has been endorsed by Ogburn.

As of Aug. 31, Espigh had raised $8,234, Irving had raised $12,164, and Vithoulkas had raised $1,850, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

The Citizen posed the same questions to each candidate; their responses appear below, in alphabetical order by last name, edited only on several occasions for conciseness and grammar.

What will be the top priority for you on the school board?

Eleina Espigh: My very top priority will be ensuring we and our students recover from both COVID-related learning loss and the latest, continued downward trend in SOL scores. Additionally, I would prioritize accountability – ensuring that the schools have the resources and direction needed to follow and implement laws and procedures, recruitment and retention of the best teachers, and transparency between teachers, students and parents.

Madison Irving: My top priority will be fixing our critical staffing crisis, which is our most pressing education issue in our county and state. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you don’t have the staffing and resources to carry those ideas to fruition, then it matters little how great the ideas are. This means more teachers, instructional assistants, front office and clerical workers, janitorial staff, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and librarians. It takes everyone to produce a world class education for our students. Buildings that are seen as fully staffed are in reality still around 10-15% below what truly adequate levels would be relative to what they were prior to the 2008 financial crisis. It’s about restoring what was lost and giving our students the best.

Kristen Vithoulkas: My top priority will be listening to our stakeholders to search for creative and effective ways to work towards solutions to address issues by building consensus. As an independent and moderate voice, I value a reasonable and thoughtful approach taking into account budget constraints and opportunities. I want our children to be safe, to feel supported, to be academically challenged, and to have opportunities. Making our teachers feel valued is also incredibly important to me. I recognize just how essential quality teachers are in our children’s lives. My mother taught in HCPS for most of her career, and I saw first-hand just how demanding it is to be an outstanding teacher.

In recent years, has the school board been successful in addressing major issues and priorities in Henrico schools?

Espigh: HCPS presents with a widely diverse student population that requires ongoing assessment and innovation. As the results of the COVID shutdown have become manifest, Henrico has reacted in a positive manner to the challenges that it has faced knowing that there is a long road ahead. Dealing with truancy, disruptive behavior, academic delays resulting in poor test performance and special needs students requiring very specific interventions to be successful is just a sample of the challenges that our school division must tackle. As a board member, I am prepared to delve into the multitude of ways that we must resolve the big issues while ensuring that programs that historically have put Henrico ahead of other divisions are maintained and expanded.

Irving: In some ways yes and in other ways we still have a long way to go. I commend them on their recent decision to provide up to eight weeks of paid parental leave for all school district employees. It’s terrific policy and much needed. I also think that the work they have done to highlight the county’s strength in Career and Technical Education is important and it creates a robust pipeline for our students to find quality employment upon graduation.

Where I think we have not been successful is in addressing the staffing crisis. We have seen progress in salary and benefits, but not all staff benefit from them or can afford things like healthcare. In Three Chopt specifically, school overcrowding is an ongoing concern of parents and teachers alike, and we know it will only get worse with rapid population growth.

Vithoulkas: Our current school board has worked through some uncertain, difficult and divisive times lately. The recent addition of paid maternity leave, Teacher Fellows, and Career Ladder programs are very positive changes to address the hiring and retaining of qualified teachers, as well as the recent 8.2% pay increase for all HCPS employees. The safety of our children at school has also been a priority for our school board, which took action to install weapons scanners at our high schools in response to community concerns. Positive steps continue to be made to encourage academic achievement and to expand career education opportunities for our students. A spirit of continuous improvement is key to maintaining excellence.

How should Henrico Schools address student misconduct and incidents of student violence?

Espigh: HCPS should apply disciplinary measures as outlined in the Code of Conduct, consistently. When I speak with teachers, their chief complaint is lack of support from their administration in applying disciplinary measures, which leads to ongoing disruption in the classroom.

Irving: It should be noted that student misconduct and lack of accountability ranks as one of the top reasons teachers leave the profession, which highlights the importance of getting things under control outside of just student and staff safety. I think in the past, there were unintended consequences that had negative outcomes on specific students – usually students of color and students with disabilities. I would say that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction and now most teachers and parents complain about the lack of accountability for student misconduct. I would, as much as possible, get rid of out-of-school suspensions (except for very specific situations such as violence) and seek to remediate in-school suspensions.

In terms of student violence, I want to welcome parents into our buildings as safety volunteers (Springfield Park Elementary has such a program) who can be hall monitors, bus loop monitors, cafeteria monitors and just generally provide positive adult interactions that will lead to a healthier environment.

Vithoulkas: Student violence cannot be tolerated in our schools. Preventing student misconduct requires enforcing consistent outcomes and understanding the root cause of the behavior. Are we offering enough support to all of our children based on their needs? Can we use mentoring or extracurricular programs to give students incentives to practice good behaviors starting from a young age? How could we revise the code of conduct and staff training to better balance the need for order in schools and equity in discipline? If elected, I will work with school administrators, teachers, families and experts to gain a full understanding of any issue to propose the best possible reasonable solutions.

How should Henrico Schools address teacher and staff vacancies?

Espigh: In an era where teacher education prep programs at our colleges and universities are experiencing a continuing decline in enrollment, it is imperative that we work together to find innovative ways to fill the pipeline with professionals who are motivated to move into the field of education. For dedicated teachers, educating the children entrusted to them by their parents for the majority of days is a mission and a passion. Using the resources at our disposal in a large community like Henrico through business partnerships and non-profit organizations, we can collaborate to create innovative ways to attract individuals into the profession. In addition, it is important that we encourage our career teachers to partner with us and promote their ideas on how we can build capacity in the profession. It will take out-of-the-box thinking and planning to weather the current and likely ongoing teacher shortage.

Irving: The way that you address any type of employment shortage is to pay a fair market rate and provide benefits that reflect the importance of these positions. For too long we have asked people to work in schools out of the goodness of their hearts and their commitment to the public good. These are noble things but they’re not enough and if we want to be fully staffed and have high quality educators and staff, we have to pay for them. We allocate resources based on our values, and I value keeping the best educators in Henrico.

However, it’s not just better pay and benefits that are needed. Teachers and staff are currently shut out from the decision making process, and not respected for their experience and knowledge of what is actually happening in our classrooms. We must bring these folks to the table and allow them to have a say in how our district carries out policy and provides for our students.

Vithoulkas: Understanding the issues that factor into teachers’ decisions to leave the profession is critical. If elected, I will host listening sessions at grade-level or other faculty meetings to offer teachers opportunities to voice their concerns and offer suggestions.

I understand that it is not only teacher pay that matters. We need to value motivating our students, encouraging respect for authority, not overcrowding our classrooms and making sure our teachers feel safe. We need to ask our teachers what causes burnout and how we can support them. With teacher input, we can then address some essential questions: How can we improve the school environment? What are the essential parts of their job? Can we eliminate or consolidate anything to lessen the load on our teachers? By listening and responding, we can work towards solutions that can help HCPS hire and retain outstanding, qualified teachers in this competitive environment.

How should the board address the inequities that still exist within Henrico Schools?

Espigh: Our focus must be on the students in each school rather than the performance of schools against each other. Each school should be the best it can be, which means great teachers and staff, and programming that supports the needs of each student. As a corporate and board leader, I believe in empowering my teams to create innovative solutions, while also holding them accountable for performance. As a school board member, I will do the same, empowering individual school administrations to assess their students’ needs and curate programming, then supporting that programming through necessary processes and funding.

Irving: One of the biggest inequities that currently exists within our school district is the staffing disparities. The lower income schools have fewer teachers and staff, and remedying this is vital. One of the ways we can address this is by increasing the annual compensation supplement for instructional staff at Opportunity Schools from $3,000 to around $10,000 (and for non-instructional staff, offer a supplement of a lower level). Another opportunity would be to provide free meals to all students, so our kids can have the energy and fuel to learn and succeed. Wrap around services, one-on-one support, and after school programs can also address inequalities and support our families and students.

Vithoulkas: Henrico County has a very diverse student population. Our school board is responsible for all of the children in our county and currently works towards addressing inequities within our communities. The board should continue to work together with stakeholders to understand the root causes of these inequities, to provide resources to address them, and to offer innovative solutions like the Glen Lea Elementary Telehealth Clinic.

As a board member, would you support a resolution that would allow collective bargaining for HCPS teachers and staff?

Espigh: Unions have a place in history and society. When employees are not valued, when they experience poor working conditions and pay, unions can offer a solution. It is the board’s responsibility to create the culture and working conditions for teachers and staff. I will ensure a transparent and open-door policy for teachers, an ongoing feedback loop, so that pay concerns and working conditions make Henrico a destination for great talent; as well as recognizing and rewarding great talent so that teachers and staff know they are valued.

Irving: Yes, however, there needs to be a lot of public education around what it would look like and how it would benefit our community at large. A strong resolution would give our educators a seat at the table and a say over their working conditions (class sizes, planning period allotments, lunch breaks, case loads, retirement plan matching, consistent raises, teacher impact statements, etc.). We have to remember that teacher working conditions are students’ learning conditions. Allowing our employees to negotiate, in a fair and good faith manner, over things they feel the district could do better will lead to more collaboration and a better approach to problem solving. It makes all parties equal and that fair playing field will benefit our students. There are a lot of misconceptions around collective bargaining, and we need to focus first on educating our community so we can get buy-in from stakeholders.

Vithoulkas: When it comes to collective bargaining, I ask what are the issues that collective bargaining seeks to remedy? Can they be addressed without it, or do we need it? It is important for all voices to be heard and for decisions to be made with as much transparency as possible.

In what ways and to what extent should parents be involved in school education and curriculum?

Espigh: Empirical evidence shows parent involvement is the #1 predictor of student success. Parents know their children the best, and should be involved in all facets of their child’s education and curriculum. The ways should be endless, and it begins with transparency between parents and schools. When parents know what their students will be taught, how their student is performing regularly, they are able to make decisions regarding their child’s education and support their child and the schools in the best way possible.

Irving: I believe it is important to note that the school board has no control over curriculum, which is a state level matter and thus my feelings toward it will not be overly relevant to the role. The curriculum is set by the VDOE after careful consideration and advice by experts in a given subject area.

As for parental involvement in schools, I believe strongly that parents should absolutely be involved in positive ways. I don’t think you’ll find a teacher or administrator who doesn’t want positive parental involvement. Emailing teachers to ask how they can best help their student succeed, joining the PTA or PTSO, volunteering on field trips, working in the front office, helping provide school supplies for classes, helping with school extracurricular activities are all tremendous and help schools to succeed.

Vithoulkas: Parents should be involved as partners working together with teachers and staff to create a positive learning environment for all of our children. I learned that parental involvement was key early in my children’s public education. I have been blessed to actively volunteer in all of my four children’s schools for the last 20 years and strongly encourage parental support and involvement in schools. When parents get involved in and contribute to their child’s school in a positive way, they show their children that they care about their education, which can have a big impact on a young child’s attitude towards school.

What makes you stand out as a candidate for the school board?

Espigh: I am the candidate with decades of experience successfully leading people, teams and boards; the candidate focused on the students and outcomes; the candidate with a proven track record for leading large programs and solving complex problems. Our board requires knowledge and experience to move the boulders ahead of us.

Irving: I believe what makes me stand out most is that I’m the only candidate with any actual experience in schools. I am a high school teacher and a department chair. I have daily, on-the-ground experience and a role in leadership within our public schools, which provides me with insight that the other candidates can’t possibly have. This is not to say that I have all the answers, but I do have experience that would be invaluable on the board and will help them face their biggest challenges moving forward. Having a current educator on the board is not only necessary but will make it function better and be more receptive and proactive toward the challenges we face.

Vithoulkas: I have over 33 years of experience in Henrico County Public Schools, 13 as a student and 20 as a parent and leader. I do not have a full-time job and have the time during the day to visit schools and build relationships with our stakeholders. I am non-partisan, running as an independent, to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of all of our children and are not guided by politics. I would be very willing to listen to everyone’s concerns and recommendations. The best possible solutions will only be found if we listen to each other and work together to continually improve our school system. I have actively volunteered in all of our four children’s schools; I now want to offer my time and talents to positively impact all of our Henrico County Public Schools.

As a board member, would you support or oppose Gov. Youngkin’s 2023 model policies for transgender students?

Espigh: The current Governor actually does not have model policies for transgender students; the VDOE did, however, issue Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents. Bullying is and continues to be the top issue for teachers, students and parents in Henrico schools. The new model policy will hold HCPS accountable for ensuring a student environment free from bullying, harassment and discrimination, and I’m fully supportive.

Irving: I would not because as someone who has taught in Henrico County Public Schools, I can say for certain that the currently existing Student Code of Conduct is more than sufficient at addressing peer-to-peer and adult-to-peer conduct within our schools. We should always prioritize student safety and well-being and the current Student Code of Conduct does just that. So long as we are actually enforcing it, ensuring our students and parents are knowledgeable of its contents, then I really see no need to bring in a new set of policies that everyone would have to learn. It’s important to note that the model policies are not law but rather suggestions and while all suggestions should be considered, ultimately, we already have a great set of policies in place and there is no reason to ditch them and create unnecessary confusion.

Vithoulkas: As parents and guardians, I believe we are all unified in wanting what is in the best interest of our children. I respect that parents have different ideas about what is best, and I am not here to judge anyone. As a school board member, my job would be to listen to these different ideas and to represent every child. I want all of the children in our schools to feel safe and supported. The many legal questions surrounding policies such as these require thoughtful consideration and the inclusion of all stakeholders.

How should Henrico Schools address learning loss, the decline of SOL scores, and the lasting impacts of COVID?

Espigh: In addition to learning grants and programs for families, Virginia has recently allocated millions of dollars to address learning loss resulting from COVID; specifically, for the hiring of specialists and tutors. While I hope that the current school board would not wait until the turn of the year to devise an implementation strategy, my personal strategy would be to assess the individual students’ needs in each school and seek out the specific resources that meet those needs. For instance, if reading literacy is a large concern, hiring a reading specialist; whereas less frequent concerns may be able to be handled through tutoring.

Irving: I think that most don’t realize that learning loss and the decline in SOLs scores are not a recent phenomenon – they have been declining since roughly 2017. This means that larger, more long-term causes are at play. The COVID pandemic undoubtedly had a negative impact and exacerbated existing trends but it’s vital to get to the root cause of a decline that has been long in the making.

I think that increasing staffing, especially in the area of instructional assistants and tutors, will be crucial. While we should have as much full-time staff as possible, we can also use retired teachers in the county, who we can contact and offer them part-time employment to come into our classrooms and work one-on-one with students who are struggling and falling behind. I don’t have all the answers here but I think this is a great first step and will do a lot to meet students where they are.

Vithoulkas: Students’ declining scores on standardized tests indicate that we have a lot of work to do. Students are still recovering from the challenges faced over the last several years. We need to understand the root cause of these declines. Can we motivate our students by offering incentives or different teaching methods? Do our students need additional counseling or tutoring services? Can we consolidate standardized tests to prevent overtesting and unnecessary stress? I am dedicated to searching for answers to these questions and finding ways to address them.

How can the board and Henrico Schools strengthen communication with Henrico families?

Espigh: HCPS must understand their stakeholders. In technology, we employ personas and empathy maps in planning user experiences. We can employ similar methodologies to understand how our stakeholders consume information, and then should be consistent in the information we communicate. As a parent, I had specific wishes that teachers would all use the Schoology grading and calendar system so that I could help to hold my children accountable for due dates or missing work, and that the school and HCPS calendars contained all of the activities. Simple improvements like these are no-regrets opportunities to exponentially improve parent-school communication.

Irving: Ironically, most parents and employees in the county would probably tell you that HCPS communicates too much with families, rather than too little. By this I mean when you receive so many correspondences within a given week, you tend to tone them out and not read all of them. I think the approach needs to be making the correspondences that are sent more meaningful so that when parents receive them, they know they’re important and will contain information they can act on. Communication for the sake of communication will not lead to better relationships. It’s how and why you communicate that matters. Families should know that when they receive a message from their student’s school or the county, that it will be important and worth reading.

Vithoulkas: School board members should be accessible to all constituents, and I would encourage anyone with concerns or suggestions to contact me. Making the effort to visit schools, to attend events that attract the entire community, and choosing meeting locations to provide easier access could help make everyone feel welcome to reach out to school board members. To address issues, I would start by listening and learning. Like the weekly listening sessions I have offered during my campaign, I would create opportunities to hear from our stakeholders to understand and continuously improve our policies and procedures. Transparency and involving others in the decision-making process is very important.

As a board member, how will you incorporate input and feedback from the community into your policy decisions?

Espigh: Elected officials should seek to represent all of their constituents, and not just their own preferences. When elected, I plan to conduct regular and accessible town halls, social media and other available channels to always seek stakeholder input around all issues, ensuring reasonable opportunity for public input before decisions are made.

Irving: I place a high importance on being responsive to constituents should they voice legitimate concerns. Responding to emails and phone calls in a timely manner and holding forums where the community can come and have civil and respectful conversations about concerns (or successes) is important and something I plan on doing. I think oftentime people just want to be heard and being that listening ear will allow people to feel respected and valued. I will always promise my constituents that I can never guarantee an outcome or a policy but I can guarantee that I will listen and consider their input. Consideration of thoughtful input and guidance is an important quality in a leader. Recognizing that you don’t have all the answers and can learn from others is crucial to success and a quality I plan to exhibit.

Vithoulkas: To be a true public servant requires listening, learning and representing your constituents. As a board member, I would continue to host listening sessions as I have done throughout my campaign to best understand the needs of our stakeholders. Combined with research on the issues, I would do my best to address our community’s concerns. Given that financial and legal constraints might not allow all feedback to be addressed as stakeholders may request, I would make decisions as transparently as possible. Communication is very important.

All policy decisions are complicated and require a thoughtful, reasonable review to find consensus. I want to find solutions that address both sides of an issue and pull us together for the sake of all of our children.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.