This contains content from my 2007 Fairfax County School Board campaign website. I ended my campaign for personal reasons, but am not ruling out another campaign in the future. Press releases, media coverage and blog entries from the campaign website have been merged into the appropriate categories on this website.
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Welcome.
My name is James Landrith and I am a candidate for an At-Large seat on the Fairfax County School Board. I’ve lived in Northern Virginia since 1992, after reporting for duty at Headquarters Marine Corps in Arlington. Upon discharge from active duty, my family and I made Alexandria and Fairfax County our home.
After six years as an active duty Marine, including service in the Gulf War in 1990-1991, I went on to become an analyst with the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, chaired by Senator Alan J. Dixon (D-IL), for the 1995 round of base closures. I moved on from the Commission to the government relations departments of several national trade associations to gain significant knowledge of the legislative process, politics and Capitol Hill.
For nearly a decade, I’ve been an advocate for the rights and recognition of biracial and multiracial children in education and other areas of society. In addition, I serve on several civil liberties and human rights committees and coalitions. I am often interviewed by local and national media on issues related to multiracial children, interracial families, racism, racial classifications and veteran’s affairs. As a syndicated blogger and internet publisher, I am nationally recognized as a principled civil libertarian and promoter of responsible government policy.
In addition to my activism, working full-time and raising two children with my wife, I taught part-time for five years in a nationally recognized literacy center. In addition to teaching, I served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Push Literacy Action Now in Southeast, Washington, D.C. Over the last decade, my children have attended six different schools in the County, located in multiple districts and precincts.
Growing up the son of a town mayor/fire chief/scoutmaster/rescue squad chief in Tazewell County, Illinois, I understand the concept of public service and the complex demands of constituencies. In addition, as the grandson of a well-known county Deputy Sheriff and candidate for public office in Peoria County, Illinois, I grew up in the shadow of a great man who put service before politics.
I believe that our schools, among the best in the nation, still have room for improvement. Concerns over boundary decisions in the Hayfield area are still an issue that has yet to be adequately addressed. Our schools need to move forward with adopting changes in our start and stop times, in accordance with the SLEEP initiative and its predecessor proposals, which have been discussed at length since 1998. Further, we are approaching critical mass with regard to our ability to transport our students to and from school in a timely manner and within reasonable hours.
In addition, as a former BRAC staffer and parent of Fairfax County students, I am concerned about the impact of the 2005 BRAC realignments on Fort Belvoir and the surrounding community. While many of the 20,000 civilian and military employees may not move to Fairfax County from Arlington, DC and other locations, it is short-sighted to assume that the impact will be minor. Our County leadership needs to be paying attention to the population growth rates on and around the base over the next five years and working the leadership at Fort Belvoir and DoD to anticipate potential problems before they become ten year projects to fix. In addition, we need to pay very close attention to the traffic patterns and congestion surrounding Fort Belvoir as it will also have a significant impact on how our children get to andfrom school. Preparation and discussion now can easily replace chaos and classroom trailers in the future.