2020 Candidates

Cristina Diaz-Torres

Cristina Diaz-Torres is a teacher and education policy specialist who works every day with school districts and education organizations across the country to improve student outcomes with evidence-based systems and policies. She gets the data, knows instruction, and believes every student has a right to succeed. 

• A Collaborative Framework for Education Governance: Student outcomes improve when all stakeholders have a seat at the table - including parents, teachers, administrators, and community leaders. Now, more than ever, students need leaders who are ready to rebuild our systems of education past this pandemic.
  
  
• Equity: Every decision must be made based on this promise - all students have a right to succeed no matter their race, gender, background, learning or physical ability, family situation, legal status, or zip code. Our budgets must tell an inclusive story that says every student has a right to be at grade level and graduate ready to thrive in higher education or the workforce.
  
  
• Improved & Transparent Data: Improve our systems for data collection, analysis, and sharing to be more transparent, to provide action-ready insights, and to be accessible to all stakeholders. APS must disavow data silos by connecting the dots that show inequities and inefficiencies wherever they are.
  
  
• Supporting our Educators: Support teacher-driven, evidence-based professional development and competitive compensation that allows our staff to live in the community where they work. Interest-Based Bargaining is a game-changer that empowers our educational professionals to support our students in every Arlington Classroom.

To read more, visit www.cristinaforarlington.com

Steven Krieger

My wife and I have lived together in Arlington for over 15 years and she is a life long Arlingtonian. She went to McKinley, Swanson and W-L (class of ’94). We have two boys -- a 3^rd grader at Key Elementary and a 3 year old. 

Out of all the candidates running and all the current school board members, I have the youngest children, so I am very invested in the long-term success of our schools and the School Board needs the perspective from someone who currently has young children.

About seven years ago, I opened Steven Krieger Law, PLLC, to provide high-quality legal counsel to middle class people who had legal issues, but could not find an attorney to help them in our community. These people made too much money to qualify for the pro bono services in our community, but not enough money to afford market rate attorneys.  My law firm provides legal services on a sliding fee scale based on the client’s income. It’s a smart business decision and it’s an equitable solution to a real problem.  

My goals for APS:

• Increase teacher compensation to make us competitive with neighboring districts; 
• Equity for each and every student;
• Improve student mental/physical wellness;
• Serve as a check against spending & improve fiscal transparency of $700 million budget; 
• Bring back summer enrichment programs;
• Expand Spanish immersion and improve FLES;
• Appoint a student to School Board; and 
• Set a net-zero goal to fight climate change.

To learn how I plan to achieve these goals and allow you to hold me accountable, please visit my website. Please call me at 703.528.5332 or email me if you’d like to discuss my campaign.

It’s time we elect an experienced educator to the Arlington County School Board.

Why?

Because policy decisions about what happens inside our schools should reflect the realities of what it is like to teach and learn in our schools, day in, day out. With 40 years of experience inside and outside the classroom --- twenty of them in Arlington Public Schools (APS) --- I have lived the impacts of School Board decisions.

My strengths include:

• A demonstrated ability to successfully communicate with and influence constituencies in both the schools and the community
• Proven skills on the “business” side of schools, managing technology infrastructure planning, acquisition and budget for my schools in both Prince William County and Arlington Public Schools
• Thought leadership in instructional design and integration of technology with curriculum, which I have shared locally, regionally and nationally

As a Board member, I will use my unique perspective as a lifelong educator to focus on:

• Smart services planning to grow and optimize the support necessary for success in the classroom, such as more counselors, psychologists, and reading specialists
• Smart instructional planning to ensure that we prioritize professional development for any new initiative
• Smart fiscal planning to guarantee that we can recruit and retain the best teachers, while maintaining the quality in infrastructure and other services that Arlington deserves
• Smart capacity planning to respond to the new growth, shifting populations, and diverse needs of our students

Finally, I believe it is important to have an expectation of success for all our students. But as a teacher and parent, I know that each child may need something a little different to achieve that success. That is the definition of equity for me. Everyone, from the School Board down to every person in our buildings, must be committed to teaching each child --- your child.

It is time to elect an accomplished educator to the School Board, so that the policies enacted by the School Board acknowledge the realities lived in the classroom.

My name is David Priddy. I am a native Arlingtonian brought up through Arlington County Public Schools. I graduated from James Madison University in 1996 with a degree in History. Most of my professional career has been in the elevator industry where I helped manage multimillion dollar budgets for branches in Santa Barbara, Burbank, and Northern Virginia. Currently, I have the honor of being a stay-at-home dad to my two wonderful sons who attend Fleet Elementary and TJ
Middle School.

I am running for School Board because I can add a voice and perspective that is not currently represented on the board. My business experience coupled with being the only candidate with both elementary school and middle school age children currently in APS uniquely positions me to represent the APS experience and to provide direction moving forward. I have had a front-row seat to four decades of positive changes, as well as to the remaining challenges that Arlington County Schools face. Currently I serve as President of Thomas Jefferson Middle School PTA and various other organizations/committees within
APS and the greater community.

My vision for being a member of the School Board is as follows: Achieve equity across APS, proper planning for future growth, and transparent communication. I’ll help continue building a stronger foundation for education in our county with a
detailed plan for my vision.

To learn more about the details of my candidacy, visit https://priddyforschoolboard.com

I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.

When I moved to Arlington in 2005, I immediately immersed myself in Democratic politics, becoming active with AYD, ACDC, the 8th CD, DPVA, and the DNC.  For several years, I led ACDC’s outreach efforts, winning its annual outreach award for two consecutive years and starting its tradition of having a booth at Green Valley Community Day. 

Since 2006, I have tutored and mentored in programs at Hoffman-Boston, Drew, Williamsburg, Wakefield, and Harvey Hall, along with the Teen Network Board. I have served on various APS and Arlington County committees, currently co-chairing the Superintendent’s Committee on Equity and Excellence.  Becoming a stepfather in 2018 has provided me an additional perspective on APS’s operations. 

In recent years, I shined a light on APS’s inequities within the Drew graded program and, working with community groups, was able to secure a dedicated building for the Montessori program.  In so doing, we were able to fully return Drew to the Green Valley community and reverse bad desegregation policy.

Our role as educators is to provide every resource possible to our students for them to attain success as they define it, whether it be college, the trades, the military, or entering the workforce. Doing so will require partnering with our unions, local businesses, and government agencies, along with creating operational and budgetary efficiencies within APS. Educating our students is a challenging reward – one that I enthusiastically and proudly undertake as a volunteer and look forward to continuing as a member of your school board.