While Fairfax County Public Schools are defying Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R-VA) model policies for public education, the school board is also trying to suppress dissent among teachers , parents, and students.

At its last public meeting, the Fairfax County School Board made it clear that my criticism of its willful violation of state policy and parental rights is unwelcome.

During its designated public forum, the school board’s rules permit 10 speakers, either live or virtual, and three prerecorded video testimonies. On Aug. 25, at the beginning of the sign-up period for “community participation,” I submitted a video testimony in support of parental rights and Youngkin’s model policies for public education. At 12:47 p.m. on Aug. 30, Desiree Wunderlin, administrative assistant to the school board clerk, Christina Setlow, sent an email to inform me that “more than … three eligible individuals signed up to provide video testimony” and my submission had not been “randomly selected.”

As I watched the school board meeting virtually on Aug. 31, I was shocked to find that there were only two video testimonies presented. I reviewed the agenda to see if maybe there had been a technological mistake, but there were only two video testimonies listed.

The following day, after contacting Wunderlin and not receiving a response about why my video was not played, I emailed Elaine Tholen, the school board’s chairwoman. Tholen responded that the omission was a mistake, something that “fell through the cracks.” But I sincerely doubt that.

Wunderlin sent me, and likely only me, an email regarding video testimony. Basically, she took time out of her day to alert me that a) more than three videos had been submitted for the meeting, when actually there were only two, and b) there had been a supposed random selection process, during which my video was not selected. The clerk is responsible for this “random selection” process. She would have known both of these things to be false when she sent me the email.

While the gross incompetence of Fairfax County School Board members, who are responsible for a $3.5 billion budget, is undoubtedly pervasive, I think the omission of my video testimony is more sinister than that. Fairfax County’s 12 Democratic Party-endorsed school board members have a pattern of ignoring and penalizing all who oppose their leftist agenda in public education. I first experienced their vindictiveness when my three sons were illegally suspended for a total of 39 days for not wearing their face masks, following Youngkin’s implementation of Executive Order Two .

During the suspension process, hesitant school administrators regretfully informed me as they issued the paperwork that these draconian orders were coming from the top. They believed at the time that suspension appeals would be at the principal’s discretion, but they were not. I subsequently requested appeals all the way up to the superintendent, Michelle Reid. On June 14, 2023, Reid emailed me that she received notice from her counsel that “the short-term suspensions will be removed in 2027 (five years after the 2022 mask refusal).” They do not seem to care that my oldest son will be applying for colleges in the fall of 2026, with the suspensions on his record.

I also did not hear back from the former superintendent, Scott Brabrand, or any of the current board members when I emailed them each time my sons were suspended on these “dress code” violations. The message from this leadership is clear: conform and obey, or you will pay.

Students involved in much more destructive and dangerous behaviors are not getting suspended in Fairfax County Public Schools. While misgendering classmates and not wearing masks are offenses grave enough for multiday suspensions, eighth grade students at Irving Middle School this year, for example, were not suspended for videoing and taking photos of other students going to the bathroom — an act that is not only humiliating for the victims but arguably constitutes child pornography.

Assault and drug possession offenses also receive lighter punishments than what these officials handed out to “mask offenders,” without remorse.

Given the Fairfax County School Board’s totalitarian approach to political offenses, I have a hard time believing that my testimony for the latest meeting “fell through the cracks.” Suppressing the video is part of a larger pattern of behavior from school board members who punish ideological opposition and consider themselves above the law, including Youngkin’s model policies.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and a member of the Independent Women’s Network.