Supervisors and school board members sworn in
Members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors elected or re-elected in November were sworn in at an inauguration ceremony at the Fairfax County Government Center on Dec. 13.
That includes the two newly elected board members – Andres Jimenez of Mason District and Jimmy Bierman of Dranesville – who will officially begin their terms on Jan. 2
Newly elected and returning school board members were sworn in at a separate ceremony Dec. 13 at Luther Jackson Middle School.
Jimenez and Bierman replace long-time supervisors Penny Gross and John Foust, respectively, who are retiring from the board.
In his introduction of Jimenez, Tony Castrilli, director of public affairs for Fairfax County, noted the incoming supervisor’s experience on Capitol Hill, the New York City government, and nonprofits, including the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Oceans Conservancy.
Jimenez is currently the director of Green 2.0, which encourages environmental organizations to increase their representation of underserved populations, and is a member of the board of the Culmore Clinic. He served as an at-large member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission from 2020 to September 2023.
Castrilli lauded Jimenez as a “strategic thinker and relationship builder.”
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BoS members who were re-elected, and also sworn in by Fairfax Circuit Court Chief Judge Penney Azcarate, include Chairman Jeffrey McKay, Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill), Pat Herrity (Springfield), Rodney Lusk (Franconia), Dalia Palchik (Providence), Kathy Smith (Sully), Daniel Storck (Mount Vernon), and James Walkinshaw (Braddock).
Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, and newly elected Clerk of the Court Christopher Falcon were also inaugurated, as well as newly elected members of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District board – Dana Barakat and Rhonda Bitterli – and current NVSWCD board member Christopher Koerner who was re-elected.
At the inauguration of school board members, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Robert Smith administered the oath of office to seven newly elected and four current members.
The re-elected board members include Ricardy Anderson (Mason), Karl Frisch (Providence), and Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), and Rachna Sizemore Heizer (Braddock). Sizemore Heizer is currently an at-large member of the board.
The incoming board members include Sandy Anderson (Springfield), Seema Dixit (Sully), Robyn Lady (Dranesville), R. Kyle McDaniel (at large), Ryan McElveen (at large), Ilryong Moon (at large), and Marcia St. John-Cunning (Franconia). Both McElveen and Moon served on the school board several years ago.
During the school board inauguration, some of those being sworn in put their hand on a Bible, some chose other books, and others didn’t use a book at all.
Frisch was sworn in a stack of the five LGBTQ-themed books most frequently banned by other school systems. Frisch is the first LGBTQ person elected to local office in Fairfax County. He will become the school board’s chair on Jan. 1.
McDaniel also took the oath of office on a book that has been banned across the county, Homegoing by Ghanian-American author Yaa Gyasi. “The book examines the legacy of slavery in our country,” McDaniel said. “We owe it to our students to teach accurate, complete, and contextual history.”
The Falls Church High School Jazzguars performed at the ceremony.
