McElveen Announces Bid For At-Large Seat On FCPS School Board

FAIRFAX, VA — Ryan McElveen announced Thursday that he is running for one of the three at-large seats on the Fairfax County School Board in the November, according to a campaign release.

“The pandemic only reinforced long-standing disparities and Fairfax County's tale of two systems,” he said, in his campaign release. “From deepening concerns about students left behind academically to declining mental health among all students, the challenges our community must surmount are far more daunting than ever before. At a time when public education is under attack by politicians, I want to work toward a better tomorrow that embraces gun violence prevention, universal pre-kindergarten, free and healthy meals for every student, and solar panels on every school.

"I see in the eyes of my daughters and all of our students that our best days are ahead of us. As a county, we need to reset, reorient our priorities, and rebuild. I am ready to take on that challenge and work with our community to bring the joy back to education.”

Voters will be heading to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to choose candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia Senate, the Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of the Fairfax Circuit Court, Fairfax County Sheriff, Chairman of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, District Members of the Board of Supervisors, At-Large Members of the Fairfax County School Board (vote for 3), District Members of the School board, and Directors (vote for 3) of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

Serving on the school board from 2012-2019, McElveen entered the already crowded at-large race, which includes incumbent Abrar Omeish, as well as Saundra Davis, Jeff Hoffmann, Chris Lewis, Kyle McDaniel, Ilryong Moon, Cassandra Aucoin, Hamid Munir, Linda Pellegrino, and Lawrence Webb.

During his eight years on the school board, McElveen worked to restore competitive teacher compensation and pushed to reform areas of mental health supports, student discipline, later high school start times and full-day Mondays, as well as school safety and security, according to the release.

In his campaign statement, McElveen said he would work to:

• Provide high-quality mental health resources that meet the needs of our students and staff
• Competitively compensate and retain high-quality educators who know our students by name and by need
• Build and maintain educational environments and facilities that are safe, inclusive, healthy, sustainable, and inspire learning
• Offer a 21st century curriculum, academies, and high-quality world language programs in every school to prepare students to thrive in the jobs of the future
• Implement universal high-quality pre-K programs that prepare students to enter kindergarten ready to learn

McElveen lives in McLean with his wife, Xuan, and daughters, 6-year-old Sierra and 1-year-old Isla. A George C. Marshall High School graduate, he earned a B.A. in anthropology and East Asian Studies from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree of International Affairs in human rights from Columbia University.

In 2020, McElveen founded the Global Leaders of Fairfax County program, which "prepares county high school seniors to be global citizens and change agents in their community and the world," according to his campaign release. In addition to being the advocacy chair of the Churchill Road Elementary School PTA, he is the co-troop leader of Girl Scout Troop 50292.

As the associate director of The Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, McEleveen is a senior administrator, managing the U.S.-China Leaders Forum and other track II dialogues. He also conducts research on Chinese politics and society and U.S. foreign policy.