The following letter to the editor was published by the Fairfax County Times on November 3, 2023:

Dear Editor,

On Sept. 29, Loudoun School Superintendent Scott Ziegler was found guilty of unlawfully firing a teacher who testified to a grand jury investigating his cover-up of sexual assaults in Loudoun County Public Schools. But what about Fairfax School Board member and candidate for State Senate District 36, Stella Pekarsky?

According to reporting in the Fairfax Times and elsewhere, on May 7 Robert Rigby, LGTBQ+ activist and founder of FCPS Pride, filed a bogus Child Protective Services report against Pekarsky’s opponent for State Senate, Julie Perry, a Centreville High School teacher. A staff officer for Child Protective Services immediately dismissed the complaint noting, “We are not assigning this referral.” Rigby also emailed the Centreville High School principal with the bogus complaint. When those efforts didn’t get the desired result, Rigby ally Vanessa Hall, Democrat party operative and fundraiser, co-founder of “4 Public Education” (a front group for the teachers’ union), and a regular at Rigby’s pre- School Board meeting rallies, emailed the bogus complaint to several people at FCPS headquarters and Perry’s principal. Records FOIA’ed by journalist Luke Rosiak show that within an hour of getting Hall’s email, Assistant Superintendent Penny Gros had a meeting scheduled, “Subject: Phone Call: Stella (re: Julie Perry).” from 4:00-4:30 pm. That same night, Julie’s principal responded by email to Vanessa Hall and reprimanded Perry.

For a School Board member who claims to support teachers, conspiring with Democrat allies in FCPS to destroy a popular teacher’s career because she is her political rival shows a level of desperation for a campaign that has nothing positive to promote. But then Pekarsky’s campaign reflects the angry positions that she has consistently taken while on the School Board. Residents of Centreville need honest representation from a senator with moral integrity who puts children and families ahead of her political aspirations.

It appears that the Virginia Attorney General may be looking into this election interference. Perhaps, Ms. Pekarsky should reflect on what happened when Loudoun’s school officials abused their power.

Mary Mack
Centreville

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