Asra Q. Nomani | October 3, 2025
(Fairfax County Times) — During a Fairfax County School Board staff meeting on Monday, school board staffers were stunned to hear Stephanie Sheridan, the top staffer to board chair Sandy Anderson, openly admit that four school board staff members aren’t available for constituents during work hours because they are busy working for the political campaign of board member Rachna Sizemore Heizer, as she seeks higher office on the Board of Supervisors, according to people familiar with the meeting.
According to an Oct. 1 complaint obtained by the Fairfax County Times, an anonymous writer asked the school district’s auditor general, Esther Ko, to investigate the case. Anderson didn’t return requests for comment, but on Wednesday at 3:25 p.m., she sent an email, canceling future staff meetings until “standard operating procedures,” or SOPs, are developed, writing, “At this time, I request that all-staffer meetings are suspended until further notice. We have work necessary to complete related to the SOP for Board Staffers that needs to be finalized by the Board before these meetings should resume.”
The allegations raise serious questions about partisanship, corruption, conflicts of interest, and professional negligence within the school board, at a time when Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is facing mounting controversies over transgender policies, abortion politics, and football recruitment scandals.
In the Oct. 1 complaint, signed by “FCPS Taxpayers against Fraud!” wrote, “I request an immediate investigation into fraud, waste, and abuse by Rachna Heizer and Kyle Mcdaniel [sic] and their staff.”
An earlier complaint, dated Sept. 28, to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, also obtained by the Fairfax County Times, raises similar concerns. Both complaints request formal investigations to determine whether the staffers and their bosses violated state law, county ethics rules, or campaign finance statutes.
All 12 members of the school board are Democrats.
County veterans say that the complaint underscores just how blatantly partisan and political some members of the school board have become, no longer even creating the pretense of nonpartisanship. Many previous school board members, including local Democratic politicians Stella Pekarsky and Karen Keys Gamarra, have used their positions as stepping stones to higher state office on the Democratic ticket.
McDaniel told the Fairfax County Times that he hadn’t received notice of a complaint. “The Auditor General has informed me that no such complaint has been filed,” he said.
The FCPS Office of Media Relations didn’t respond to a request for comment. Neither did Sizemore Heizer nor their staff members. Former board chair Karl Frisch also didn’t return a request for comment.
McDaniel, who has faced a civil lawsuit alleging he embezzled money from a former business partner, said his staffers are using vacation time to campaign for Sizemore Heizer. He wrote, “Some staff are using their personal vacation time to volunteer for Rachna — as is their right. This is how things are done in any workplace. If an employee wants to do personal things, they take leave. Constituent services are continuing without interruption, just as they would whenever an employee takes a scheduled vacation. I’d be lying if I said I was surprised to see attacks like these in the closing days of an election.”