Round 2 is underway! We’ve strapped on our gloves and are ready to fight as many rounds as needed for our kids’ sake. We need you to jump in the ring with us.

Our lawsuit against Arlington Public Schools has been filed. It could have statewide and national implications. The next step is to serve the suit on the defendant. We need to raise a lot more money to be ready to play the process out and fight to the end.
 
None of us should be too surprised at this point that even after the Governor forced schools to open APS is still obstinate and only allowing kids to go to school two days per week while spending half to those days staring at ipads with their teachers offsite. And then, even after revised CDC guidance removing their excuses, they still won't budge to fully open schools five days per week like they should, like has been proven to be most effective, and like has been done safely elsewhere for months.

This is a long term battle that demands a long term solution. SB1303 is good progress and we appreciate the work of Senators Dunnavant and Peterson (of course not representing us in Arlington since our representatives were AWOL). But that law, signed at the last minute by the Governor as an afterthought, contains the magic words "exceptions permitted" and a sunset clause. If it is acceptable for schools to be closed for a full year what comes next? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me many times…. you get it. Now we have a school board candidate already suggesting that our kids might need to attend school in shifts in the fall! How ridiculous! Achieving a court ruling that forcing kids into an inferior education model is not "high quality education" and thus a violation of the state constitution should leave a permanent marker and help prevent this fiasco from recurring. This misguided experiment MUST be documented as a violation of the state constitution, to prevent it from ever being repeated. 

Even if our local or state tyrants finally relent and fully open schools we aren't going away. Let’s take a look at what the SCOTUS said in a similar case just last November in regard to restrictions on churches:

“The dissenting opinions argue that we should withhold relief because the relevant circumstances have now changed. After the applicants asked this Court for relief, the Governor reclassified the areas in question from orange to yellow . . . There is no justification for that proposed course of action. It is clear that this matter is not moot. . . . And injunctive relief is still called for because the applicants remain under a constant threat that the area in question will be reclassified as red or orange.” https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf

Our lawsuit is public information now that it has bene filed so I’m glad to share it with anyone. Just send me a message to request it. Serving will start the clock and put the ball in the court of Arlington Public Schools to respond. What could their response say? What incredibly asinine weak excuse du jour will they try to use this time? Any of us local parents could probably write their excuse…er…. I mean… response for them since we’ve heard it all ad nauseum over the last several months.

To cut to the chase – we need $35,000 soon to move forward. Here’s the cold hard reality – we’re fighting a government entity which has virtually unlimited funding to hire good outside counsel and fight us WITH OWN OUR MONEY THAT THEY CAN FORCEFULLY TAKE FROM US! It’s basically us versus them/us! We can expect them to try to wear us out by delaying and making it cost us more than we can afford.

Our attorney is very well qualified. He was Cadet of the Year at West Point, clerked for Justice Alito on the SCOTUS, beat Kamala Harris in court when she was AG of California, AND most importantly he has represented school boards so understands how to tackle this (like he did on the football field for Army) and currently has two kids of his own in Fairfax public and private schools so sees the disparity first hand.

Through discussions with counsel we have a clear assessment of the task ahead. Winston Churchill once stated, “As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.” While I can’t make quite as strong of a prediction, we can commit to work tirelessly for our children and hope for the best outcome.

Let me lay out what we can expect:

Phase 1 – drafting and filing – completed

Phase 2 - service of process, followed by motions on the pleadings

The suit is very well-drafted, filed with the court, and ready to be served upon the defendant. Although I lament the pace, I am very pleased with the complaint. Once the complaint is served, we can expect a two to three month process to follow, involving defendants contesting the pleadings. We expect this to cost in the range of $25,000 to $35,000 in legal fees. If we do not prevail at this stage, it might not be worth moving forward. If we do prevail, then onto the next phase.

Phase 3 - Discovery

Fact gathering. We might need to hire expert witnesses, but we also might be able to utilize local expert witnesses who share our passion for this issue and are willing to lend assistance without compensation (as I’ve been doing for months). We expect expenses in the range of $40,000 to $75,000 and a timeframe of two to three months.

Phase 4 – Dispositive motions

This is before we would actually go to trial. We would likely be looking at a two month process and $35,000 to $40,000 in expenses, while the parties try to limit the issues for trial, based on any facts that are not in dispute.

SUMMARY OF NEEDS:

$35K ASAP

$75K two months from now

$40K four months from now

Total of $150K over the next eight months (all estimates of course).

We've raised almost $12K through about 150 individual donors stepping up to do their part. Families who have resources have mostly used their resources to enroll their children in private schools. Some have remained engaged in this issue for various reasons and we appreciate their support but they don’t likely have the same level of commitment and passion. Families who don’t have resources, like ours, are pretty worn out and tapped out.

WE NEED HELP!

Thank you very much for your consideration.