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MaryKate “MK” Hughes launched her campaign for the Falls Church City School Board on Aug. 16, presenting her 25 years in public education as a way to bring an educator’s perspective directly into local budget and policy decisions.

Hughes, a former fifth-grade teacher at Oak Street Elementary School and a current teaching coach at American University, kicked off her campaign on a muggy Saturday morning at Big Chimneys Park. She is running in the Nov. 4 election.

Dozens of parents, students, neighbors and former pupils attended the event, many wearing campaign shirts bearing the slogan “Knowledge. Experience. Heart.” City Council member and former PTA president Laura Downs and Oak Street educator Chas Bowling introduced Hughes before her first campaign speech.

Hughes said she considers the current School Board competent and functional and is not campaigning to push it in a radically different direction. Instead, she wants to help its members better understand how their decisions affect classrooms.

She said an experienced educator could deepen the board’s understanding of the consequences that budget and policy choices have for students and teachers.

A career shaped by education

Hughes studied history at Boston College but did not immediately know what career she wanted to pursue. After graduating, she worked at Rosie’s Place, a Boston shelter providing permanent housing for women who had experienced chronic homelessness.

Her responsibilities resembled those of a family member: accompanying residents to emergency rooms, helping with grocery shopping and assisting with other daily needs. Through conversations with the 14 women living there, Hughes said she came to see education as a critical source of resilience after hardship.

That experience led her to apply to DC Teaching Fellows. She moved to Washington as part of the program’s inaugural class and earned a master’s degree in teaching from American University in 2003.

That same year, Hughes joined the founding team at DC Prep, a public charter school in Washington. During her 14 years there, the organization expanded from 100 students in two grades to 2,100 students across five campuses.

Hughes worked as a teacher, teacher leader, building leader and central-office administrator. She said the school’s middle-school program ranked as the city’s highest-performing public middle school in nearly every year of her tenure.

She later spent six years teaching fifth grade at Oak Street Elementary. Her honors include a National Educator Award from the Milken Family Foundation and National Board certification, which she completed last year.

Hughes now works in higher education preparing teachers. She has also testified before Congress on education policy and advised schools around the country.

Learning, creativity and academic standards

Hughes said her campaign slogan’s references to knowledge and experience are easy to document, while “heart” reflects qualities that are harder to capture on a résumé.

She described learning as a central passion in her professional life. At Oak Street, she helped students create a podcast called “Lines of Inquiry,” an effort supported by an Education Foundation grant.

That openness to experimentation does not mean abandoning academic expectations, she said. Hughes supports clear standards for what students should learn while giving teachers room to decide how best to make material engaging for their particular classes.

Teachers know their students and are best positioned to bring required content to life, she said.

Cellphones, attention and classroom feedback

Discussing cellphone use in schools, Hughes described the fragmentation of children’s attention—and adults’ attention—as a serious concern.

She said cellphone rules are one part of a broader discussion about teaching, learning and how students interact during the school day. She also wants the community to examine how much time children spend on screens more generally, including the advantages, disadvantages and possible effects on attention.

Hughes said the district’s current cellphone policy is acceptable to her, although she would consider revisions after reviewing evidence about its impact on students.

She emphasized the importance of candid feedback, saying it helps students, professionals and school systems improve. That feedback, she said, should help guide any future policy changes.

Books, censorship and diversity

Hughes also addressed disputes over books and age-appropriate school materials.

As a fifth-grade teacher, she guided students through exhibition projects in which they selected issues, conducted research and developed action plans. Book bans and censorship were among the subjects that interested her 10- and 11-year-old students.

Hughes acknowledged that not every book is suitable for every child or age group. She favors conversations with students and families about whether a particular book is appropriate at a given time rather than removing it for everyone.

In her view, a broad book ban causes greater harm than an individual child encountering a book that may not be appropriate.

Hughes was similarly direct in supporting diversity in public schools. She said working with students from different backgrounds contributed enormously to her growth as an educator and enriched the classroom for everyone.

Schools, she said, are places where children learn how to live alongside other people, and public schools can demonstrate the value of embracing diversity in all its forms.

Former students recall a lasting impact

Two rising Meridian High School sophomores, Millie Owens and Margaret Ashbrook, remembered Hughes as a compassionate teacher who adapted to students’ academic and emotional needs.

Owens called her one of the best teachers she had ever had and said Hughes taught with the goal of helping students beyond the immediate lesson. Ashbrook said Hughes met children at their individual levels and never made her feel as though she was struggling to catch up.

Both students recalled songs Hughes used to reinforce math concepts. Years later, they still draw on those tunes during tests to remember lessons about mean, median, mode and range or the differences among acute, obtuse and right triangles.

Ashbrook also credited Hughes with transforming her attitude toward reading. She said Hughes helped students find books that matched their interests, turning reading from an obligation into something she now enjoys regularly.

Owens had a similar experience, saying the opportunity to choose appealing books helped students become more invested and develop as readers.

Parent Courtney Storm said Hughes made an immeasurable difference in the lives of her two children, despite their different personalities and needs. Both still view their former teacher as a mentor, she said.

Storm also praised Hughes’s ability to listen, absorb information and consider decisions from the perspectives of people who will be affected by them. She said that combination of expertise and empathy would serve the School Board and community well.

Local leaders back the campaign

Downs said she contacted Hughes after learning that School Board Chair Dr. Tate Gould would not seek reelection.

She knew Hughes through the elementary PTA, where Hughes helped lead the Hippo Tiger Giraffe Games, and as the teacher of one of Downs’ sons. Downs said her son had a severe speech delay and an individualized education program, and that Hughes helped him build confidence and flourish during the school year.

Downs described Hughes as a trusted friend and said “integrity” was the word that best captured her character.

Bowling, who taught next door to Hughes at Oak Street, endorsed her both as an educator and as a Falls Church voter. A lifelong product of the city’s school system, he said Hughes’s qualifications and understanding of Falls Church City Public Schools were well established.

What distinguished her most, he said, was her character and empathetic approach to leadership. When Bowling was a new teacher, Hughes helped select curriculum models that allowed less-experienced educators to grow into their roles.

Hughes makes her case

In her campaign speech, Hughes organized her argument around knowledge, experience and heart.

She identified three central School Board duties: setting budgets, establishing policy and overseeing the superintendent, who is responsible for operations and student achievement. Her varied professional roles and experience as the parent of two local students, she said, have prepared her to make informed decisions in each area.

Hughes said her goal as an educator has always been for every student—and every teacher on her team—to learn with joy and confidence.

She pointed to DC Prep’s expansion from eight employees and 100 students to 2,100 students at five campuses in educationally underserved Washington neighborhoods. That work, she said, gave her experience making schools successful under challenging conditions.

Hughes also discussed her personal experience navigating support systems. One of her two children at Meridian High School has complex medical needs, requiring Hughes to work with the school system on a Section 504 plan.

She is also the legal guardian of her brother Johnny, who has intellectual and psychiatric disabilities, and has helped manage his individual habilitation plans as an adult.

Hughes said national uncertainty can produce anxiety, but taking constructive action can provide an answer. Running for the School Board, she told supporters, is the action she believes she can take.

She asked attendees to display yard signs, donate, knock on doors and speak with friends and neighbors about the election. Whatever the result, she said, community members strengthen Falls Church by participating in democracy, discussing problems respectfully and modeling civic engagement for children.

As Hughes prepared to speak, teenage student Abby Ashbrook called out a greeting, prompting Hughes to pause and wave back. Afterward, Abby described Hughes as her friend and offered an enthusiastic wish of good luck for the campaign.