Retired Public Servant | Lifelong Active Democrat | Trusted County Appointee
Russell Brooks — Strong. Committed. Ready.
School Board At Large Candidate
Russell Brooks is running to be a School Board Member At Large in Fairfax County. Russell believes the County’s communities are looking for new leadership on the School Board and deserve representatives who reflect Change. Russell Brooks is best qualified to provide the new direction that Fairfax deserves, an experienced leader who listens and engages with everyone to achieve real results. If you are dissatisfied with an unresponsive status quo, It’s Time for Change!
A Record of Service and Results
Russell doesn’t just talk about leadership — he’s delivered it!
Russell serves as a Trustee on the Fairfax County Public Library Board, helping oversee one of the county’s most vital public institutions and expanding access to literacy and cultural education, workforce skill development, technology, and community meeting spaces. He is also a member of the Fairfax County History Commission, which is charged with advising the County government and promoting public interest in all matters bearing on the history of Fairfax County.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Russell began developing his leadership skills in the campus anti-apartheid movement and upon graduation he was elected to serve on the University’s Board of Trustees for a term.
Russell understands how policy decisions translate into real-world outcomes, and he is committed to continuing to bring his lifetime of service, leadership, and governmental experience to improving the schools in Fairfax County.
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Education is deeply personal to Russell. As a parent and longtime Fairfax resident, he understands the challenges students, families, and educators face in these complex times. Russell will fight to ensure schools are properly resourced, students receive the support they need to succeed, and teachers and school staff are paid fairly and treated with the respect they deserve.
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Russell firmly believes the safety of our children and their teachers, as well as school staff must be of paramount importance in the face of the dangers that schools encounter far too often in today’s world. Russell believes our schools must properly and professionally prepare for the possibility of these dangers.
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The number one priority for Russell Brooks is academic excellence throughout the entirety of the FCPS system. He will fight to ensure that no school and no group of students is left behind!
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Russell believes the oversight function of the Fairfax County School Board must be one of its highest priorities. There must be diligent inspection and review of all matters pertaining to budget, contracts, personnel, technology, and the school calendar if the Board is going to retain the confidence of the County’s communities.
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Russell will be a strong voice, an unwavering voice, to ensure FCPS remains committed to diversity, inclusion, and fairness.
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Russell believes education opens doors to opportunity for the young people of Fairfax County. Those doors come in many forms. One is Career and Technical Education. FCPS has made notable strides in catering to the obvious interest and enthusiasm students have shown for these programs. The cost of college is high and unattractive to some due to the expense involved. Some students are most interested in other avenues to high-paying employment in today’s economy. FCPS should promote these possibilities to students and expand its offerings where possible. Russell will be a vocal and consistent advocate for these programs!
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In the face of our current challenges, Russell believes educators and individuals involved in education policy have an opportunity and a responsibility to help address the worrisome lack of knowledge about the foundations of our democracy and its institutions. Russell supports enhanced civic education as one means of addressing the fragile nature of our democracy. Civic education teaches people how government works and how to take part in society. It gives people the knowledge to vote, speak up for their rights, and help their neighborhoods.
Support for Education
While in the U.S.. State Department, Russell demonstrated his appreciation and commitment to the importance of education in changing lives for the better. In Iraq, he worked to develop an American Center at the University of Baghdad and started a poetry exchange with the assistance of the University of Iowa’s International Writers Program. In Cote d’Ivoire, he served on the Board of the International University of Grand-Bassam, founded a STEM program for girls, expanded the American Spaces (libraries), and founded the Andrew Young Center for Entrepreneurship in Abidjan. In his last overseas assignment for the State Department in Nigeria, he once again played a key role in enhancing the American Spaces, developed key relationships with the nation’s universities, provided support for STEM education, and even aided the expansion of youth sports programming.
Proven Leadership. Lifetime of Service.
Russell K. Brooks has spent his career in public service, bringing experience, integrity, and steady leadership to complex challenges at home and abroad. A retired Foreign Service Officer with more than two decades of service at the U.S. Department of State, Russell worked at the intersection of diplomacy, national security, and public engagement, managing teams, overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets, and leading communications during moments of crisis.
Russell gained direct legislative experience, including serving as a Foreign Policy Fellow on Capitol Hill, where he helped shape policy, engage stakeholders, and navigate the legislative process.
Russell has also been involved in civic life in Fairfax County and the Franconia District for quite some time and has become even more committed after retirement from federal service — currently serving as Chair of the Northern Virginia Democratic Black Caucus, Precinct Captain in the Kingstowne area of Franconia, and an active member of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee and the 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee, as well as frequent host of the Fairfax Public Access show Inside Scoop.
Experience That Translates Into Effective Leadership
Russell K. Brooks brings decades of real-world governing experience to the table from serving our country abroad as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, to leading and organizing here at home in Fairfax County. He has managed complex operations, earned the trust of local leaders, and worked inside government at every level. Russell understands how decisions are made — and how to make them work for the people they affect.