Manar Jean-Jacques
Manar Jean-Jacques was a candidate for at-large representative on the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[1] Manar Jean-Jacques lost the general election on November 3, 2015.
Biography
Jean-Jacques earned a B.A. in sociology from George Mason University in 2007. She works as an analyst with the Refugee Processing Center, an organization run by the U.S. Department of State to handle refugee admissions. Jean-Jacques and her husband, Thierry, have two children.[2]
Elections
2015
The Fairfax County School Board is a 12-member board elected to serve four-year terms. Three seats are elected at large and nine seats are elected by district.[3] All 12 seats were on the ballot on November 3, 2015.
At-large incumbents Ryan McElveen, Ilryong Moon and Ted Velkoff faced Robert Copeland, Omar Fateh, Jeanette Hough, Manar Jean-Jacques, Peter Marchetti and Burnette Scarboro for three seats. While Moon and McElveen won re-election, Velkoff was defeated, placing fourth to challenger Hough.
Braddock District incumbent Megan McLaughlin, Hunter Mill District incumbent Pat Hynes and Providence District incumbent Patricia Reed faced Katherine Pettigrew, Mark Wilkinson and Dalia Palchik, respectively. Dranesville District incumbent Jane Strauss competed against challenger Peter Kurzenhauser. McLaughlin, Hynes, and Strauss won re-election; the fourth incumbent, Reed, lost to Palchik.
The races for both the Mount Vernon District and Sully District seats featured newcomers after neither incumbent filed for re-election. Karen Corbett Sanders defeated W. Anthony Stacy in the Mount Vernon race, while Karen Keys-Gamarra lost to Thomas Wilson in the Sully District race. Lee District incumbent Tamara Derenak Kaufax, Mason District incumbent Sandra Evans and Springfield District incumbent Elizabeth Schultz all ran unopposed and won re-election to their seats.
Results
| Fairfax County School Board, At-large, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Ilryong Moon Incumbent |
17.2% | 84,364 |
| Ryan McElveen Incumbent |
17.0% | 83,160 |
| Jeanette Hough |
16.3% | 80,035 |
| Ted Velkoff Incumbent | 15.3% | 74,948 |
| Robert Copeland | 15.2% | 74,454 |
| Manar Jean-Jacques | 11.6% | 57,043 |
| Peter Marchetti | 2.6% | 12,809 |
| Omar Fateh | 2.3% | 11,062 |
| Burnette Scarboro | 2.2% | 10,676 |
| Write-in votes | 0.3% | 1,458 |
| Total Votes | 490,009 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2015 November General", accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
Funding
Jean-Jacques reported $12,693.00 in contributions and $8,927.85 in expenditures to the Virginia State Board of Elections, which left her campaign with $3,765.15 on hand as of October 28, 2015.[4]
Endorsements
Jean-Jacques received an official endorsement for her campaign from the Fairfax County Republican Committee.[5]
Campaign themes
2015
Candidate website
Jean-Jacques' campaign website listed the following themes for 2015:
| “ |
Parent Centric We, as parents, are the main educators of our children. We have a right to be involved in every aspect of our children’s education. As elected members, the FCPS school board has a responsibility to involve parents and work with them. The current school board is not fulfilling this responsibility. I want to ensure that the FCPS school board provides better communication and more parental engagement on social, budget, and curriculum matters. We entrust our children to the FCPS system while they are at school and that is a responsibility that the board must not take lightly. As a parent, I understand the importance of parental engagement and the importance of having an elected member that respects our opinions and our voices. Curriculum Strengthening FCPS is falling in the ranks of the Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE). Seven schools are facing losing their accreditation this year. Our children deserve better than this. They deserve leadership who can stay focused on their mission to provide the highest quality education possible. It is important to focus our energy on strengthening the curriculum. FCPS is a leader in education, not only nationwide but also worldwide. As the world becomes more globalized, our children will compete for jobs with others from all over the world. The world’s market is interconnected; therefore, we must set higher goals for the future of our children. We can help our teachers and children succeed together by decreasing class sizes and focusing on acquiring a quality education rather than teaching to the test. Stewardship Minded I understand the work it takes in order to provide the best for your family and I want to ensure that our hard-earned tax dollars are spent wisely, not wasted. FCPS has one of the largest public school budgets in the country, yet the current school board has managed to create a $100 million budget shortfall for the coming school year. This mismanagement of taxpayer dollars is simply unacceptable. I will conduct an in-depth line-by-line review of the budget in order to eliminate waste and properly re-direct funding to areas of concern. There is NO reason for Fairfax County, one of the richest counties in the country, to have a budget in the red. Our budget is short because of management and leadership, not due to a lack of resources. |
” |
| —Manar Jean-Jacques, (2015), [7] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Manar Jean-Jacques' 'Fairfax County Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia
- Fairfax County Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "List of Candidates," September 9, 2015
- ↑ Friends of Manar Jean-Jacques, "About," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ Fairfax County Public Schools, "School Board: Overview," May 14, 2015
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Fairfax County Republican Committee, "2015 Elections," accessed October 12, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Friends of Manar Jean-Jacques, "Vision," accessed October 14, 2015
