Candidate Profile: Miranda Turner For Arlington School Board

ARLINGTON, VA — Miranda Turner is running to fill the vacant seat on the Arlington School Board. A lawyer by trade, Turner has a B.A. from Brown University and J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Since school board candidates run as independents, the Arlington County Democrats are conducting a caucus from Monday, May 17 to Sunday, May 23, to choose which candidate they will endorse in the Nov. 2 general election. Registered voters can cast their vote virtually starting 12 a.m., Monday or at four wireless locations around the county beginning Tuesday.

Learn More: Early voting is underway for the June 8 Democratic Party primary.

Candidate Name:

Miranda Turner

Occupation:

Lawyer

Education:

B.A. from Brown University and J.D. from UVA.

Campaign website

mirandaturner.org

Why are you seeking elective office?

I'm running for School Board because I believe we need stronger board oversight, willingness to ask hard questions and follow up to get answers, and a different perspective. Arlington's School Board has not engaged in a meaningful way on the biggest issue facing our school system in generations, how to educate students effectively during a pandemic and emerge successfully from this difficult year. The School Board has avoided other difficult decisions and not provided clear direction to APS in recent years too, including boundary decisions, planning for enrollment growth, and on the budget.

I believe I have the skills and perspective to ensure sound decision-making and promote accountability on key issues as they arise. Appropriate engagement on these issues will ensure the current and future quality of our schools.

The single most pressing issue facing our board is the return to school coupled with the current lackluster recovery plan, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Return to school, coupled with the current lackluster recovery plans, is the single biggest issue facing our schools. APS has said it will return students to school five days a week in the fall, but has not committed to in-person teachers, extended day, or clear quarantine policies. These are significant issues for working families and for keeping students in the classroom. We will also need strong focus on academic and mental health recovery. APS initially promised summer school to thousands of English learners and early elementary students who made no progress this year and students with IEPs that it is now not able to provide. Building back from this year will not be quick or easy, and we need to appropriately prioritize resources to serve our students' needs. We must also ensure our words match our actions; when we promise something to parents, teachers, and students, we must deliver on it without excuses for why we can't.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The key difference between me and my opponent is an understanding of what a School Board does. The School Board provides oversight to make sure the organization is carrying out its purpose to educate children, is making sound decisions, is responsible with public funds, and is appropriately planning for the near-term and long-term future. It does not lay plans for APS; it vets them. It does not make excuses or cheerlead APS; it holds the system accountable. The School Board is also accountable to the public as elected officials. It should make sure APS is appropriately and adequately seeking out and and responding to all corners of the community, and it should vote to show the community where it stands.

While I don't have education experience in my professional life, I do have experience as an advocate to APS dating back to 2018, experience as a parent and in my community, and I have the analytical skills needed to guide APS forward over the next four years. I also have experience with public company boards in my professional capacity, which gives me a clear understanding of what the role is and is not.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community?

I'm competing for an open seat, but unfortunately our School Board has not provided the strong leadership our community needs in recent years. We have seen several boundaries approved by the School Board that left us with overcrowded or under-enrolled schools immediately afterwards, budgets that have overshot revenues and relied too heavily on reserves, and poorly thought through approaches to enrollment management. Return to school planning is the more immediate example, but not the only one.

The School Board should approach big issues by taking several steps to satisfy itself that APS is getting it right, starting with comprehensive and ongoing community engagement, the ability to vet and challenge the Staff's data, projections, and analysis, and willingness to make unpopular decisions if that's the best path for the community as a whole. Lastly, School Boards must vote. Our School Board did not take a single vote on return to school since the pandemic began, instead leaving decisions that affected every single student in APS to the unelected superintendent.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

Our local officials should have come together sooner and more effectively to pursue the goal of reopening schools. Last summer, we knew key mitigation tactics (aside from masking) included spacing and adequate ventilation. APS should have addressed ventilation in classrooms much sooner than it did, and worked with county officials for any additional indoor or outdoor space requirements. Teachers also wanted access to testing and clear information and policies on close contacts. APS should have provided those things, and worked with the county on testing.

Currently, we are not providing more days of instruction per week and summer school will not be provided to all eligible students. Fundamentally, our local officials should be driving us forward to more in-person instruction for those students who want it, by providing whatever space and funding is needed to make that happen, just as our neighboring jurisdictions are doing.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

It has been said that APS operates a system of schools, not a school system. This came through in sharp relief during the pandemic, with schools approaching virtual learning and the hybrid model in very different ways. Some schools abided by the direction not to teach new content, while others did not. Some schools distributed physical materials, but others did not. These were issues before the pandemic too. It should not depend on going to the "right" school to learn to read effectively, or to receive appropriate services for students with disabilities -- but currently it does. These issues will persist if we don't move towards an oversight structure for the schools, with School Board oversight of the entire system.

We should also look to define equity up, not down. Decisions like no new instruction last spring are examples of where we have gotten this wrong. New questions around advanced diplomas and the proposed new math curriculum are an opportunity to get it right. APS should provide a path to success to all students, be it a recovery path for lost learning time or an accelerated path to match student ability and interest. This is how we serve all our students.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My professional experience has given me analytical tools and skills, including the ability to review and synthesize large amounts of information, present it logically, and chart a path forward, to apply to the role of School Board member. I also have experience organizing and advocating in the community, including during the 2018 boundary process, on my daughter's PTA, through my Civic Association, and on return to school issues. Many of these activities involved difficult, sensitive issues and a high degree of emotion, and I brought a nuanced and thoughtful perspective to each. I will do the same if elected to the School Board.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Go big or go home.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

This is about more than return to school for me. This is the biggest issue APS has right now, and that's why I talk about it so much. How each candidate would have handled return to school is akin to a tryout for the position, because we'll have other big issues to confront soon enough. I bring a different perspective and am not afraid to take unpopular positions. I believe both of these traits will serve me well on the School Board, and in turn serve the APS community well.