Amy Riccardi entered the 2023 race to represent Virginia’s Sterling District on the Loudoun County School Board with the hope of working on behalf of the part of the area she described as “unlike” the others.
She lost to Arben Istrefi by a few hundred votes, which she attributed to a third candidate participating in the race. Had it been between the two of them, Riccardi said it likely would have been even closer.
But, Riccardi decided to run for the seat again this year after hearing from families about the desire to have an education advocate on the board. This time, however, she defeated Istrefi, winning 51.5% of the votes.
“People are just really tired of all the politics, too, and really just want to take politics out of education and just focus on a really good education for our kids,” Riccardi told WTOP.
Riccardi has lived in Sterling for 16 years, and she said voters likely witnessed her volunteer and community work. She owns a consulting business and is an adjunct professor at George Mason University.
On the Sterling Park side of the school district, Riccardi said there are seven Title I schools with 54% of students, on average, who are English language learners.
There are other issues, such as homelessness and food insecurity, too, Riccardi said.
“Just even basic needs for our kids are really important too,” Riccardi said. “It’s really hard to learn when you’re not sure where you’re going to sleep at night. It’s really hard to learn when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.”
It’s essential to help English language learners catch up in reading, math, science and history, Riccardi said, adding that she’s eager for the next budget cycle to learn how the division is spending money and what programs it’s supporting.
“For me, being able to focus on our Title I schools, our English learner population, making sure that we have enough teachers for these schools, that we’ve got food security squared away for these students as well, are some of the big ones,” Riccardi said.
Some parents, Riccardi said, approached her about Policy 8040, which covers the rights of transgender and gender-expansive students. The policy has been scrutinized after two students said a transgender student identifying as male recorded them in a locker room at Stone Bridge High School.
Loudoun County is also one of the Northern Virginia school districts the Department of Education found to be violating Title IX, because the policy allows students to use bathrooms based on gender identity instead of biological sex.
“It wasn’t just one party or the other, parents here just want their kids to be safe in school,” Riccardi said. “They don’t want minor children, boys and girls, sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and sports.”
As for recent division news about declining enrollment projections, Riccardi said there are lingering questions that have to be answered.
“Why are parents pulling kids out of school?” Riccardi said. “Are they moving away? Is it, they’re moving into private schools? That they’re homeschooling? We do need to really drill into that and figure that piece out.”
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