Amy Riccardi Wins Sterling District Loudoun County School Board Seat
Amy Riccardi entered the 2023 race to represent Virginia’s Sterling District on the Loudoun County School Board, hopeful she could advocate for a part of the area she describes as “unlike” the others. Although she lost that election to Arben Istrefi by a few hundred votes—a result she attributed to a third candidate splitting the vote—Riccardi said the race likely would have been even closer had it been just between her and Istrefi.
Encouraged by feedback from local families expressing the need for an education advocate on the board, Riccardi decided to run again in 2024. This time, she defeated Istrefi, winning 51.5% of the votes.
“People are just really tired of all the politics, too, and really just want to take politics out of education and just focus on a really good education for our kids,” Riccardi told WTOP.
Riccardi has lived in Sterling for 16 years and believes voters have noticed her long-standing volunteer and community work. She owns a consulting business and is an adjunct professor at George Mason University.
She has a particular focus on the Sterling Park side of the school district, where there are seven Title I schools and, on average, 54% of students are English language learners. Riccardi highlighted other challenges faced by the community, including homelessness and food insecurity.
“It’s really hard to learn when you’re not sure where you’re going to sleep at night. It’s really hard to learn when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from,” Riccardi said, stressing the importance of meeting students’ basic needs.
Riccardi emphasized the need to help English language learners catch up in reading, math, science, and history. She is eager for the next budget cycle to assess how the division is spending money and which programs are being supported.
“For me, being able to focus on our Title I schools, our English learner population, making sure that we have enough teachers for these schools, that we’ve got food security squared away for these students as well, are some of the big ones,” Riccardi said.
Some parents have approached Riccardi about Loudoun County’s Policy 8040, which covers the rights of transgender and gender-expansive students. The policy has faced scrutiny after two students reported that a transgender student identifying as male recorded them in a locker room at Stone Bridge High School. Additionally, the Department of Education found Loudoun County in violation of Title IX, as the policy allows students to use bathrooms based on gender identity instead of biological sex.
“It wasn’t just one party or the other, parents here just want their kids to be safe in school,” Riccardi explained. “They don’t want minor children, boys and girls, sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and sports.”
Riccardi also addressed recent news about declining enrollment projections in the division. “Why are parents pulling kids out of school?” Riccardi asked. “Are they moving away? Are they moving into private schools? Are they homeschooling? We do need to really drill into that and figure that piece out.”
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https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2025/11/how-a-consultant-professor-unseated-an-incumbent-on-the-loudoun-co-school-board-2/