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FEC Biographies

 

Louise Epstein, Chairman

Parent Organization: 

FairGrade

 Louise Epstein is a co-founder and former budget chair of FEC, and the recording secretary of the McLean Citizens Association.  She also is a co-founder and president of FAIRGRADE, which successfully lobbied FCPS to change obsolete grading policies and, with Restore Honors Courses, successfully lobbied FCPS to offer more high school honors courses in English and social studies.  After graduating from Harvard Law School and working 15 years as a tax lawyer, Louise became a stay-at-home mom and a full-time volunteer. She has been a PTSA and booster president at TJHSST, a PTA vice president and "volunteer of the year" at Longfellow MS, a PTSA budget chair at McLean HS, and a volunteer at Franklin Sherman ES, Chesterbrook ES and Haycock ES, as well as a president of the Fairfax County Association for the Gifted. Louise also served on the FCCPTA Board and  the Superintendent's Business & Community Advisory Committee, and has collaborated with parent advocates on a variety of other issues, ranging from Real Food For Kids (improved school cafeteria food) to efforts to save winter track and reduce athletic participation fees. 

Therese Tuley, Vice Chairman

Parent Organization: 

SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal)

Terry is currently SLEEP chairman, as well as a member of Fairfax CAPS, Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform and Coalition of the Silence.   She also served on the School Board’s 2007-08 Transportation Task Force Committee and served two terms (2008-12) on the School Board's School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC).

She has been a PTA board member and is currently  FCCPTA 's Legislative Committee Chair . Over the years she has served as a volunteer for various school and civic organizations including Girl Scouts (troop leader), Odyssey of the Mind (coach) and her Homeowners Association (president).

Terry received a BSEd from the University of Georgia and a Masters in Education from Georgia State, with subsequent post grad studies at the University of New Mexico and GMU. With 15 years of teaching experience and several years as a volunteer in various school and civic activities, Terry is enjoying advocating for accountability, transparency and community engagement in FCPS.

Michele Menapace, Communications

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform

Michele Menapace has been an advocate for children in Fairfax County & throughout Virginia for more than 12 years, through involvement with local, county and state-level PTA. She has been particularly interested in student health and welfare and making school governance more accountable and transparent. Michele has campaigned publicly for healthier school start times for teens, for chemical-free foods in our cafeterias, and for discipline reforms that focus on preventions, restorative justice and acknowledgment of parental rights. She is currently the communications director for Fairfax Zero Tolerance Reform and for FEC. Michele is a new member of the board of the Coalition of the Silence and will serve as the Chair of the Committee for Discipline Reforms. Michele and her husband have two children, one a junior at Hayfield Secondary and the other a freshman at NVCC.

Greg Brandon, Web Editor

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Council of PTAs

Greg Brandon is the Immediate Past President of the Chesterbrook ES PTA and current Treasurer of the Longfellow MS PTA.  He is the Northern Virginia District PTA's Volunteer of the Year and a Life Member of the Virginia PTA.  Through his efforts, the Chesterbrook PTA website was recently recognized as the best PTA website by the Virginia PTA.  He is the Web Editor for the FEC website.

Maria Allen

Maria is a former TV News Producer (ABC News) who now produces online educational content for the web.

Grace Chung Becker

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Association for the Gifted

Grace Chung Becker is president of the Fairfax County Association for the Gifted. She currently serves on the Advanced Academic Programs Advisory Committee for the Fairfax County School Board. She has previously served on the Gifted and Talented Advisory Committee and the Human Relations Advisory Committee for the School Board. Chung Becker has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Finance, and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

As a former federal prosecutor, appellate attorney, litigator and Congressional staffer, Chung Becker has served in all three branches of the federal government and worked in private practice at the law firm of Williams and Connolly. She is the former head of the Civil Rights Division at the US Department of Justice, where, among other things, she supervised the Educational Opportunities Section. She is a former executive vice president of the Korean American Coalition and served on its board of directors. She has children in middle and elementary schools.

Jody Bennett

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Coalition of Adovcates for Public Schools (FairfaxCAPS.org)

Jody Bennett has a long history of involvement in the field of education. She has a Masters in Nursing Education and a Doctorate in Curriculum Instruction. Her twenty-three years of educational experiences include teaching nursing education at Georgetown University and George Mason University. Her expertise in curriculum development involved designing and implementing nursing education at the undergraduate level. Jody has a twenty-five year involvement in land use, comprehensive planning, and historic preservation. She has served on several task forces where the focus is on land use planning. During the past three years, her considerable interest and energies have been devoted to involvement with the Fairfax County Public School, including closely following the activities and decisions made by the school board members. Jody routinely video records the school board work sessions because she believes that is where the action is and where decisions are made. She manages to take some time to copy the Old Masters.

Sheree Brown-Kaplan

Parent Organization: 

The Coalition of The Silence

Sheree Brown-Kaplan is a long-time advocate for children with disabilities and their parents and a former At-Large candidate for the Fairfax County School Board. She is an executive board member of The Coalition of The Silence (COTS), where she serves as chair of the COTS Committee on Children with Disabilities. Sheree is a Northern Virginia native and graduate of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). She is also a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in history. Sheree has worked in various positions for members of both the US House of Representatives and the Virginia House of Delegates. After serving in the Executive Office of the President at the Office of Management and Budget, Sheree specialized in government affairs at a Fortune 50 company and later as director of government affairs for a trade association representing small, family-owned businesses.

The mother of two children with disabilities who attend FCPS, Sheree has been active in several local schools as a PTA Special Education Representative and has helped a number of PTAs in forming special education committees. Sheree served on the Executive Board of the Fairfax County Council of PTAs (FCCPTA) and as both a member and chair of its Special Education Committee. In addition, Sheree served on the school board’s state-mandated special education advisory committee, the Advisory Committee on Students with Disabilities. The Virginia Board for People with Disabilities selected Sheree to attend its nationally recognized advocacy training program, Partners in Policymaking, from which she graduated in 2008.

During 2007-2009, Sheree led community efforts to prevent the erosion of parents’ rights in the revision of the Virginia special education regulations, including working in coalition with groups across the state. In 2008, Sheree helped to pursuade then-Governor Kaine to retain the Virginia-specific right of parent consent to the termination of special education services. In recent years, Sheree has advocated fulfillment of the state-mandated functions of the Advisory Committee on Students with Disabilities and that the school board address the disproportionate discipline of students with disabilities. Sheree's work with COTS focuses on addressing all barriers to achievement that prevent students with disabilities from obtaining the successful outcomes intended by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): further education, employment and independent living.

Walt Carlson

Parent Organization: 

Parent Advocate

Walter Carlson has been an FCPS observer and activist for over 15 years. A member and officer of school PTAs and the Fairfax County Council of PTA’s, he became interested in school issues and began attending FCPS school board work sessions, committee meetings, retreats, and regular meetings. He attended so many meetings that some school board members began to call him “the public” since he was often the only citizen in attendance. He frequently sends messages the school board and the superintendent on a range of school issues and operations. Having attended most of the meetings that lead to the implementation of the FCPS “Strategic Governance Initiative”, Walt has provided the school board with numerous comments and suggestions on how that initiative might become a more effective means for the FCPS leadership to provide effective oversight to our community’s schools. 

Walt has a BA degree from The Pennsylvania State University and a Masters in Public Administration from Temple University. He served on several ad hoc committees – the 2003 Community Task Force on the Budget , the 2006 Citizen Enrollment Study Task Force, and the 2008 Transportation Task Force. During his career in state and Federal government Walt implemented statewide and nationwide information collection and processing systems. That experience provided him the interest and knowledge to evaluate FCPS instructional and administrative technology programs and systems. He is currently the Technology Chair for the FCCPTA.

Kim Farrell

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools (FairfaxCAPS.org)

Kim Farrell is a member of FairfaxCAPS which is a coalition of civic organizations, neighborhood associations, parents, homeowners, and area residents from throughout the region who are dedicated to promoting educational excellence for all students in the Fairfax County public school system. Farrell also is a member of FairGrade and SLEEP. She has two children in the Fairfax County school system. She represents the Wolftrap Elementary School PTA on the Superintendent's Parent Advisory Council and is an active volunteer at Wolftrap Elementary. She has testified before the school board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and has worked with the community, local politicians, and the media on a number of school-related issues, including redistricting, the budget, the proposed acquisition of Gatehouse II administration building, and VGLA testing.

Steve Greenburg

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT)

Steve Greenburg is the President of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers.

Steve has taught for twenty- one years, seventeen in FCPS. His current assignment is as a third grade AAP teacher at Forest Edge ES. Steve has served on the FCFT Executive Board for eighteen years in a variety of capacities including First Vice President, Vice President and Secretary. Steve has also worked for the Virginia Federation of Teachers as a State Lobbyist and he has served in FCFT offices for three years (previously). Phone: (703) 451-6840

The mission of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, is to improve the lives of our members and their families, to give voice to their legitimate professional, economic and social aspirations, to strengthen the institutions in which we work, to improve the quality of the services we provide, to bring together all members to assist and support one another and to promote democracy, human rights and freedom in our union, in our nation and throughout the world.

Michael Hairston

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax Education Association (FEA)

Michael Hairston is President of the Fairfax Education Association (FEA)

The mission of the FEA is to provide leadership regarding all decisions affecting public education in Fairfax County and to serve as the collective voice of our members. The Association will endeavor to continuously improve the conditions of teaching, learning, and working within FCPS. We believe this can be accomplished through informed advocacy and adherence to the highest standards of professionalism.

JoAnne Hammermaster

Parent Organization: 

Real Food For Kids

JoAnne Hammermaster is co-founder and president of Real Food For Kids, a group that strives to improve the quality of school food in FCPS. She is PTA President at Wolftrap Elementary, where she has also started a Nutrition & Health Committee, co-founded the Wolftrap Running Club, headed up the 5k, and worked in various other committees. She was previously on the PTA Executive Committee for several years at a Florida school. She has also previously started a ministry at her church that works with domestic abuse victims, and held other leadership positions at her church. JoAnne has a BA in Finance and an MBA.

Caroline Hemenway

Parent Organization: 

FairfaxZeroToleranceReform.org

Caroline Hemenway is director of www.FairfaxZeroToleranceReform.org, a group of concerned citizens who have convened to fight for reform of Fairfax County public school disciplinary policies and their implementation. As the parent of three children who have attended a total of nine FCPS schools, she has been involved with education advocacy in Fairfax for more than 15 years. She was active on the FCPS Model Campus Committee to improve curriculum and other coordination between Langston Hughes Middle and South Lakes High Schools, heading a benchmarking subcommittee, several of whose recommendations were adopted. She also has fostered better understanding about the International Baccalaureate program; has testified often before both the school board and Board of Supervisors on redistricting, budget, and other issues; and is active in promoting healthier school start times for all county public school children.

Hemenway graduated from the George Washington University with a degree in journalism and political science and practiced journalism until she became publisher at the Center for Energy and Environmental Management. She is now owner and president of Hemenway Inc., a Virginia-certified WBE providing environmental, health, and safety management system implementation and auditing expertise, and public outreach and editorial services to government and commercial enterprises. Hemenway and her family live in the Herndon area of Sully District near Reston.

JoAnn Karsh

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax Education Association (FEA)

JoAnn Karsh is the Executive Director of the Fairfax Education Association.

Janet Otersen

Parent Organization: 

FairfaxZeroToleranceReform.org

Janet Otersen is a member of FairfaxZeroToleranceReform.org.

Phyllis Payne

Parent Organization: 

SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal)

Phyllis Payne co-founded SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal) and has been working to increase awareness of teen sleep needs and advocating for school start times that work for all students, Kindergarten through 12th grade. She has served as a classroom volunteer, volunteer coordinator, and PTA President at Bailey's Elementary School and as a volunteer coordinator for Woodson High School's PTSA/PTSO. She was an at-large representative to the School Board’s School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) and served on the Transportation Task Force (TTF). She is a member of the Northern Virginia Healthy Kids Coalition.

Payne is a health educator and works as a consultant planning national health education campaigns and writing plain-language health education materials for the National Institutes of Health. Earlier in her career, Phyllis worked as a secondary school science teacher, teaching students in 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades. She also taught English in Japan one year. She has a Master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and a BA from Vassar College where she studied biopsychology and education

 

Ginger Shea

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax Education Coalition

Virginia Fitz Shea is a is a writer and historian. She is the author of the Full SchoolDays blog. Her volunteer experience with Fairfax County Public Schools includes serving on the Safety and Security Task Force, the Superintendent’s Community Advisory Council, and later the merged group called the Business and Community Advisory Council. She also served on the Instruction Committee and the Budget Committee of the Fairfax County Council of PTAs. Her other PTA experience includes serving as president, newsletter editor, volunteer coordinator, secretary, and Foreign Language Experience (FLEX) coordinator for Weyanoke Elementary School; and newsletter editor, secretary, and volunteer coordinator for the Holmes Middle School PTA. She ran unsuccessfully for the Mason District seat on the school board in 1995. In 1973 she graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a BA in English.

Dave Thomas

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax Education Association (FEA)

Dave Thomas is a former Board Member of the Fairfax Education Association and former FCPS Teacher.

Sally Todd

Parent Organization: 

Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT)

Sally Todd is the Director of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers (FCFT).

Sally is a twenty-three year veteran of FCFT. Her primary responsibilities include counseling and representing members. Formerly, Sally was on the personal staff of the United States Secretary of Education. In the 1980's she served as Executive Director of the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs, reporting to the President. She also served as personal liaison between Congress and the Secretary of Education on “Excellence in Education” issues.

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