Dear Fairfax Times: This Mom is Not Your Punching Bag

Please stop inserting me randomly in your opinion pieces and articles. I am a local mother who is active in my community and does significant volunteer work as a school volunteer and scout leader, but I am also a private individual who has been subject to threats, insults, and reputational damage due to false, inflammatory pieces written about me in your publication and others. I am sorry to resort to this letter, but communications with your editor have proven futile.

Most recently, I was inserted into a bizarre article about FairFACTS Matters accusations regarding the Boundary Review Advisory Committee (BRAC) selections on March 7, 2025. I call it bizarre because not only did it come on the heels of a lack of engagement on FairFACTS Matters’ multiple social media posts about their FOIA results, but the article also repeated nearly verbatim their accusations as if they were fact rather than mere supposition, and failed to interview anyone from FCPS. Also the Fairfax Times  failed to include the fact that the BRAC representatives from each school are current parents of students who attend FCPS, which was a critical part of the decision-making process. That being said, it is strange that the Fairfax Times  would choose to interview a vocal critic of FCPS (Joanne Sears) who was removed as a potential BRAC representative because she has no students in FCPS. Weird choice by Fairfax Times.

Not only did the Fairfax Times  irresponsibly add me to the article, but you also included my friend and fellow 4 Public Education board member, Robert Rigby. Neither of us were contacted, interviewed or alerted to the fact that the article was coming out and named us. The information about us is irrelevant to the article about complaints by FairFACTS Matters. There is no reason to print our names and add our volunteer work to the article, except as an attempt  to intimidate and create the aura of villainy around both of us. At the same time, you misrepresent both Robert and me. I believe that Robert sent a correction to you already; however, I am requesting that you remove our names from the article.

Because I was not contacted about the article, It seems particularly odd that the author, Samir Ali Nomani, expressed concern about the safety of “Parent #35” and withheld their name, yet did not hesitate to name  me and Robert, opening both of us up to false accusations and slanderous comments: 

• Why withhold from print the name of Parent #35  when FCPS already knows who she is because she is labeled as #35 on the FCPS list? 

• Was there ever a parent #35 on the original list, which FairFACTS Matters has never produced? Since the videos are heavily edited, is it possible that there was more video to explain the issue with the original list, which would question the foundation of your entire article?

• Why repeat a false assertion that FCPS would retaliate against children? 

• Why expose random private citizens (me and Robert) by sharing their names and volunteer activities in this article without contacting them in advance of publication and giving them a chance to respond? 

• Why pretend that you care about protecting mothers and their children when you have repeatedly exposed me and my family to inflammatory articles with false accusations for three years about who I am and what I do? 

If one searches “Fairfax Times” and “Vanessa Hall,” one can see a number of media posts where your paper accuses me of being a “racist” while supposedly running the Fairfax NAACP (both are false). You have published multiple media posts falsely accusing me of interfering in an election, being under investigation by the Attorney General, trying to get a teacher fired, making a false report of a teacher who outed an autistic student on Twitter, and more. Never was I consulted regarding these posts, and the authors never bothered to evaluate the veracity of what they wrote. Simply terrible, slanderous journalism by the Fairfax Times.

Nevertheless, I feel I should correct something you said about Robert and me. You “accuse” both of us of “frequently speak[ing] at school board meetings in support of FCPS policies, including the boundary changes;” however, that is false. Each of us speaks up to support the rights of students, teachers/staff, and families. Both of us advocate for the rights and education of the most vulnerable students, including those who are lower income, disabled, immigrant, and LGBTQIA. We care about people over policy and politics. I don’t think either of us have voiced support for “boundary changes.”

Have we ever ranted and raved angrily at the School Board? We have not. That is because both of us believe in civil discourse. It may be your misguided opinion that we speak in support of all school board policies when in fact, we speak in favor of school board policies that support and protect the most vulnerable students. By neglecting nuance and context, you are misrepresenting factual information and attempting to harm our reputations. Please consider the ethical ramifications of failing to follow journalistic ethics, but also consider the harm you incur on Robert, me, and our families as you repeatedly use us as punching bags.

Frankly there are so many false and rather grotesque comments on your pages that it saddens me to think of how you have fanned the flames of furor by printing repeated lies about me and others. You have harmed my reputation, my family, and my safety. 

In 2022, when I tried to ask your editor, Heather Zwicker, to retract a statement, she later mocked me, and cc’d those who have bullied me for years. Such abhorrent behavior is beneath a community newspaper relied upon for truth in journalism by Fairfax County residents. Of course, your false reporting and accusations have had consequences, as can be seen at the bottom of the article of concern where, once again, I am falsely accused of things I have not done. 

4 Public Education was started in 2021 to support public education across Virginia. Since then, we have written hundreds of blogs about education, participated in pro-education rallies around the state, and spoken frequently in front of school boards and the Virginia Board of Education. We are not directed, amplified or funded by a political party or dark money organization (e.g., Independent Women’s Forum or Parents Defending Education), unlike many highlighted in your paper.

At this point, I am wondering whether the Fairfax Times’ behavior is retaliatory against me and my organization, 4 Public Education. Recently we shared how your paper seems to be coordinating messaging with those attacking equity, including the Fairfax GOP and Parents Defending Education. We also reported on the $1.64 million in outside FCPS legal costs associated with your reporting on the manufactured “Commended Certificate Crisis” of 2023. Are you retaliating against board members of 4 Public Education because we exposed your biased, sloppy journalism with factual, sourced reporting?

Or, is this just purely personal? Are these political actions intended to sow doubt and distrust of those who support public education and vulnerable students, or is it purely personal and a vendetta to sully my reputation”? Why would a local paper intimidate–through cherry-picked inaccurate reporting–a local stay-at-home mom who works hard for her community, is polite, bakes the best pound cake, and has been a scout leader and Sunday school teacher for more than a decade? It is a bizarre turn of events for a newspaper to intimidate and abridge the free speech and exercise of an American citizen, particularly a stay-at-home mom who is active in her community.

Finally, I find it odd that you are importing relatives of Asra Nomani from West Virginia to do your journalism in Virginia. Why not hire locals from Fairfax County? Hiring from one family smacks of nepotism, despite your repeated articles about the importance of merit.

Thank you for your time,

Vanessa Hall Mother of 3, Scout Leader, and Volunteer Vice President of 4 Public Education

This letter was sent to the Fairfax Times Editor, Heather Zwicker, on March 21, 2025. We have not heard from them at this time; however, we will share whatever outcome happens. If you have an interest to submit a letter to the editor at Fairfax Times, here is the link.