Karen Keys-Gamarra, Abrar Omeish and Rachna Sizemore Heizer were endorsed for the Fairfax County School Board by Fairfax County Democratic Committee on Tuesday night, May 21.
The three candidates, in the order above, were the top vote-getters in a poll among FCDC members, easing out incumbent Ilryong Moon. A total of 1,337 members voted through early voting and at the meeting itself, held at Lake Braddock Secondary School.
The candidates are running for three at-large school board member slots to be elected at the general election on Nov. 5.
FCDC also ratified the endorsements of nine magisterial district Democratic committees for school board members from those districts, who will also face voters at the general election.
They are, L-R in photo below: Megan McLaughlin (Braddock), Karl Frisch (Providence), Ricardy Anderson (Mason), Karen Corbett Sanders (Mount Vernon), Laura Jane Cohen (Springfield), Tammy Kaufax (Lee), Stella Pekarsky (Sully) and Elaine Tholen (Dranesville). Not pictured: Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill).
Keys-Gamarra is an incumbent, elected to the school board in a special election in 2017. As a child advocate and attorney, she has represented hundreds of children in situations involving abuse, neglect, adoption, and criminal matters.
Omeish is the co-founder of a non-profit providing tutoring and mentorship and co-chair of the school board’s Human Resources Advisory Committee.
Heizer is a college professor, management consultant and member of the school board’s Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities since 2012.
Moon, a lawyer, first served on the school board 1995 to 1999, and then from 2004 to the present.
Main photo: L-R Karen Keys-Gamarra, Abrar Omeish and Rachna Sizemore Heizer at the endorsement meeting of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee on May 21