Robert Copeland

Robert Copeland

Education

Bachelor's

West Virginia University

Other

Howard University School of Dentistry

Personal

Profession

Dentist

Contact

Personal website

Robert Copeland (b. Charleston, W.Va.) was a candidate for at-large representative on the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia. The general election was held on November 3, 2015. Robert Copeland lost the general election on November 3, 2015.

Biography

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Copeland earned a B.S. in pharmacy from West Virginia University in 1971. He later earned a D.D.S. from Howard University School of Dentistry. Copeland is a dentist practicing in Arlington. He and his wife have two children and seven grandchildren.

Elections

2015

See also: Fairfax County Public Schools 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. 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

Copeland reported $11,129.99 in contributions and $4,676.02 in expenditures to the Virginia State Board of Elections, which left his campaign with $6,453.97 on hand as of October 28, 2015.

Endorsements

Copeland received an official endorsement for his campaign from the Fairfax County Republican Committee.

Campaign themes

2015

Candidate website

Copeland's campaign website listed the following themes for 2015:

“	We believe it is time to again become responsive to parents, responsive to teachers, responsive to taxpayers, and responsible for all the children. It was obvious to those in attendance at the May and June School Board meetings that votes were decided in advance and without regard to parental input and concerns. Respect Parents The FCPS Board needs to be engaged with children and parents in an open, transparent, and simple manner. When parents entrust their children to the school system, personal opinion and beliefs should not be challenged by people in authority. Tolerance and respect for everyone should occur throughout the entire K-12 experience. The present School Board has failed in this important responsibility. Enable Teachers The mission of the Board, and the administration, is to create an environment that provides the highest quality education possible. Group planning time, instructional time and weekly flextime dedicated to teacher parent interaction would help. Less testing and more teaching would help. Retaining and not retraining saves money and would help. We are losing great teachers because of pay and working conditions. How can this be happening in one of the nation’s wealthiest counties? Why are we at risk of losing accreditation in 7 of our schools? Ask the present School Board. And then Vote. Honor Taxpayers Our present school system spends 30% more per pupil than the national average. 75% of taxpayers have no children in the school system. We should thank them for their generosity and honor them with good stewardship of their wealth. Major initiatives need to be evaluated for effectiveness. Privatizing big ticket items should be examined. Present mismanagement has led to a 100 million dollar shortfall in next year’s budget. Ask the present School Board how this happened and then Vote.	”
—Robert Copeland, (2015),

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Robert Copeland' 'Fairfax County Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Robert Copeland - Google News

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

Suggest a link

• Fairfax County Public Schools
• Campaign website