Key Facts
Background
Ilryong Moon grew up in South Korea before immigrating in the middle of high school to the United States in 1974. He graduated from Harvard with a BA and from William and Mary Law School with a Juris Doctor. Moon has served as a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, the Urban Policy Task Force, the Fairfax County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, the executive committee of the Fairfax County Police Chief’s Diversity Council, the Virginia State Advisory Committee, and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. He formerly served as an at-large member and a Braddock District member of the Fairfax County School Board throughout the years. For Moon’s years of service on the Fairfax County School Board, the main gymnasium of Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology was named for him. He is a lawyer, working in the northern Virginia area since 1984; he currently works at the law firm Moon, Park, and Associates [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Under VPAP, Moon is reported to be a Democrat [6].
Key Issues
Accessibility
Moon wants to ensure Fairfax County special needs students—ones with disabilities, in poverty, or learning English as a non-native language—are provided with appropriate services, including inclusion practices in order to reduce achievement and opportunity gaps. Moon believes that offering more learning and enrichment opportunities during summer, winter, and other breaks will help advance underperforming students. He also believes that expanding preschool programs and early access to reading will help students enter elementary school on an equal level and help working parents [1].
Budget
Moon believes that Fairfax County needs to work with the local and state governments to secure increased funding to renovate and build schools in a more timely manner and maximize the efficiency of use of the construction fund. While in office, Moon helped strengthen the auditing function of the school system [1].
Curriculum
Moon believes that Fairfax County needs to help students develop the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy like creative, collaborative, problem-solving, analytical, and technological skills [1, 4]. Moon believes that Fairfax County should build relationships with businesses and organizations to provide real-world experience to students. Moon wants to expand Fairfax County’s programs for “Trades for Tomorrow” where students are introduced to and learn practical job skills needed in the job market. Moon also believes that Fairfax County should expand programs for “Teach for Tomorrow” to encourage students to explore and consider teaching as their career so that Fairfax County can gain teachers. While in office, Moon helped implement full-day kindergarten and full-day Mondays for elementary schools. He helped expand world language programs and course offerings [1].
LGBTQIA+
Moon believes all students should be in a safe environment to learn and Fairfax County should continue to recognize students’ gender identity [1, 4, 5]. While serving on the Fairfax County School Board, Moon led the efforts to file an amicus brief in support of a transgender student in a different county [5]. He helped Fairfax County adopt its nondiscrimination policy [1].
Mental Health
Moon believes that Fairfax County should give schools more resources such as counselors and psychologists to be able to deal with safety and mental health issues [1].
Parental Involvement
Moon believes that Fairfax County must improve its communication with and support of parents so that they can better help their children at home. He believes Fairfax County should create more opportunities for parents and community members to provide input in developing policies and budgets. Moon believes that strengthening education and opening dialogue with families and communities on drug use could reduce drug problems in schools [1, 4].
Teachers
Moon believes that in order to recruit and retain the best teachers and school employees, Fairfax County should be compensating teachers and employees fairly, providing safe and healthy working conditions, giving adequate planning and professional development time, ensuring that class sizes and workloads are reasonable, and eliminating unnecessary tasks that take away their focus from the core mission [1, 4].
Miscellaneous
Moon believes that Fairfax County should keep its school operations environmentally friendly and continue efforts to achieve sustainability goals. He also believes Fairfax County needs to continue to reduce the amount of trailers used for instruction. Moon believes Fairfax County should implement and expand middle school sports [1].
Endorsements
Gerry Connolly, Congressman; George Barker, State Senator; Jennifer Boysko, State Senator; Adam Ebbin, State Senator; Dave Marsden, State Senator; Chap Petersen, State Senator; Dick Saslaw, State Senator; Scott Surovell, State Senator; David Bulova, Delegate; Eileen Filler-Corn, Delegate; Kaye Kory, Delegate; Paul Krizek, Delegate; Alfonso Lopez, Delegate; Irene Shin, Delegate; Mark Sickles, Delegate; Marcus Simon, Delegate; Rip Sullivan, Delegate; Kathy Tran, Delegate; Vivian Watts, Delegate; Jeff McKay, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Penny Gross, Vice Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Walter Alcorn, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; John Foust, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Rodney Lusk, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Dalia Palchik, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Kathy Smith, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Dan Storck, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; James Walkinshaw, Member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Rachna Sizemore Heizer, Chairman of the Fairfax County School Board; Tammy Derenak Kaufax, Vice Chairman of the Fairfax County School Board; Laura Jane Cohen, member of the Fairfax County School Board; Megan McLaughlin, member of the Fairfax County School Board; Melanie Meren, member of the Fairfax County School Board; Stella Pekarsky, member of the Fairfax County School Board; Karen Corbett Sanders, member of the Fairfax County School Board; Stacey Kincaid, Sheriff of Fairfax County and Fairfax City; Sharon Bulova, Former Chairman of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Kris Amundson, Former Delegate and School Board Member; Sandy Evans, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Robert E. Frye, Sr., Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Pat Hynes, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Ryan McElveen, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Jim Raney, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Janie Strauss, Former Fairfax County School Board Member; Eleanor Saslaw, Former President and Member of Virginia State Board of Education; Shirley Ginwright, Past President of the Fairfax County NAACP; Rex Simmons, Former Chairman of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee; Chris Lewis, Former School Board Candidate; Fairfax County Federation of Teachers; Fairfax County Democratic Committee
Sources
1 Ilryong Moon for School Board
2 Moon, Park, & Associates
3 Ballotpedia
4 Annandale Today
5 The Washington Post
6 VPAP