Ian Serotkin

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Ian Serotkin

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Loudoun County Public Schools, Blue Ridge District

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Education

Bachelor's

University of Illinois, 2002

Graduate

Johns Hopkins University, 2005

Personal

Birthplace

Jericho, N.Y.

Profession

Director of IT

Contact

Campaign website

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Ian Serotkin was a member of the Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia, representing Blue Ridge District. He assumed office on January 6, 2020. He left office on December 31, 2023.

Serotkin ran for election to the Loudoun County Public Schools to represent Blue Ridge District in Virginia. He won in the general election on November 5, 2019.

Serotkin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Ian Serotkin was born in Jericho, New York. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois in 2002 and a master's degree in information systems and technology from Johns Hopkins University in 2005. Serotkin's career experience includes working as a software developer and as the director of IT services for a government contractor. He earned ceritfication as a program manager. Serotkin has served on the board of directors for the Aldie Heritage Association and as a coach, judge, and school coordinator for Odyssey of the Mind.

Elections

2019

See also: Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Loudoun County Public Schools, Blue Ridge District

Ian Serotkin defeated Ram Venkatachalam in the general election for Loudoun County Public Schools, Blue Ridge District on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ian Serotkin (Nonpartisan)	56.5	12,304
		Ram Venkatachalam (Nonpartisan)	43.3	9,428
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	53

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 21,785
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

To see a list of endorsements for Ian Serotkin, click here.

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ian Serotkin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Serotkin's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm running for the Blue Ridge district seat on the School Board to transform LCPS into the best public school system in the country.

Why am I the right person for the job? I've already been effective in advocating for changes within LCPS. My son used to come home every day 1st grade and do flips on the couch for an hour because he was only getting 15 minutes of recess at school. I did something about it. As a result of my efforts as a leader of the More Recess for Virginians advocacy group, Virginia passed a new state law last year on recess. Then, here in Loudoun, I held town hall meetings, gathered community consensus on our recommendations, and worked with our school board to get them to pass a new policy in June 2018 which more than doubled the amount of recess our kids get in elementary school.

Over the past six years, I've seen the results of underfunding our schools again and again: my daughter having a 4th grade class with 31 students; unsafe school walking routes of more than a mile through the woods; storage rooms turned into classrooms; 53 students in one elementary school art class; lessons being given in hallways due to a lack of space. We can, and will, do better than this.

I intend to make sure we are doing an effective job at keeping up with the tremendous growth that Loudoun has had, to eliminate overcrowded schools and lower class sizes. Our new schools are opening full, because they're the schools we needed five years ago. Some neighborhoods have had to switch schools four times in the past five years because of all the growth and rezoning. I intend to make sure that we're getting ahead of the growth curve, and that no children and teachers are sitting in overcrowded classrooms while waiting for schools to be built.

I also intend to raise teacher and staff salaries, and make sure we're paying all LCPS employees a living wage.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I intend to reduce overcrowding, lower class sizes, and make sure we're building new schools on time.
• I intend to raise teacher and staff salaries, to make sure we're paying all employees a living wage and to attract and retrain the best teachers to LCPS.
• I have a track record of finding common ground to get things done, and I look forward to continuing that on the school board.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm passionate about education - that's why I'm running for school board.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My long-term goal is to transform Loudoun County Public Schools into the best public school district in the country.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The Challenger space shuttle exploding in 1986. I was six years old.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

During high school, I was a computer technician at my town's public library. I helped kids use the computers and repaired them when they broke.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

"Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" from the Hamilton soundtrack.

Who are your constituents?

My constituents will be the citizens of the Blue Ridge District of Loudoun Country - Hillsboro, Round Hill, Middleburg, Aldie, Purcellville, and Brambleton.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

Making significant headway on my priorities will require close coordination and cooperation with the Board of Supervisors, from which LCPS receives most of its funding. I have a track record of effective public service, of listening to community concerns, and of finding common ground to make positive changes on issues I care about, as I did last year when I worked to get a new state law passed on recess and doubled the amount of recess time our kids get in elementary school here in Loudoun. I will continue to work constructively for change on the School Board by collaborating with the Board of Supervisors, our state lawmakers, parents, teachers, and advisory committees such as SEAC and MSAAC.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

Yes, absolutely. There's mounting research evidence (such as "The Effects of Teacher Match on Students' Academic Perceptions and Attitudes," Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, March 2018) that shows that when students have teachers that look like them, they do better in school. That's why I'm committed to increasing the diversity of teachers and staff hired by LCPS, in line with the current strategic action to do so.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

As part of my platform, I've also called for a comprehensive security framework that includes all aspects of school safety and security in a similar vein to federal NIST security control standards (physical protection, access control, IT security, incident response, personnel security, risk assessment, contingency planning, etc.) This framework should be rolled out district-wide and independently audited regularly to make sure it's in place and working.

I also intend to focus on initiatives shown by research and science to improve school safety - threat assessment programs to identify threats and prevent violence before it happens; social and emotional learning (SEL) programs to establish a healthy school environment that promotes safety; implicit bias training to help eliminate disproportionate and discretionary student discipline.

And when incidents do occur, we need to do a much better job of communicating effectively with the community. A big part of that means being open and transparent about issues when they arise. The school district has struggled greatly to release accurate information in a timely fashion when incidents have occurred in our schools, from sexual assault in locker rooms to individuals carrying firearms into the school buildings. I recognize that sometimes, personal information is protected by law from being released. But the school district has used that too often as an excuse for slow or non-existent communication, and that needs to stop. I'm hopeful that the newly-hired Director of Communications will help in this regard, but that's not the whole answer - the school board and the superintendent are ultimately responsible for communications with the public; the buck stops with them.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Candidate

Loudoun County Public Schools, Blue Ridge District

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