James Fiorelli
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James "Jim" A. Fiorelli has served as a Henrico County Public Schools, Virginia, School Board member for the Three Chopt District from January of 2004 to the present. He is also an assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[edit] Biography
As the father of three school-aged children, Jim Fiorelli and his wife Jan are active in the Three Chopt community and involved in Henrico County Public Schools. Michael is an 11th grader at Douglas S. Freeman High School, Matt is a ninth grader at Douglas S. Freeman High School, and John is a fourth-grader at Nuckols Farm Elementary School. This past year year, Jim participated in the Gayton Elementary School Career Day, sharing with fifth-graders about life as a Navy pilot.
Jim is a 1978 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Finishing 41st in his class of 987, he was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and received The Class of 1912 Award for the highest grade point average in his American Political Systems major. During his studies, Jim was selected to represent the Naval Academy at Foreign Affairs conferences throughout the country, and was chosen to participate in an exchange program with the French Navy and French Naval Academy. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1978.
After graduation and a short recruiting tour, Jim entered flight training, earning his Naval Aviator wings in September 1980. For the next six years, he served as a carrier pilot and then an instructor pilot in the Navy’s highly sophisticated EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare aircraft. Jim held key squadron positions, the most notable being that of Landing Signal Officer, in which he trained new pilots to take off and land on carriers. Jim made over 400 carrier landings and logged over 2500 flight hours. He made deployments aboard the carriers Ranger and Kennedy, and saw action over Lebanon after the U.S. Marine barracks were bombed in 1983.
In 1986, Jim resigned his active duty commission and joined the Naval Air Reserve. For the next seven years, he served as an Adversary Pilot, training U.S. and Allied pilots by simulating Soviet and other enemy tactics. After serving on the staff of three different Admirals — Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Commander Carrier Group Four, and Commander Carrier Group Eight, Jim retired in June 2002 with 24 years of service.
From 1986 to 1999, Jim and his wife Jan served with The Navigators, a non-profit, nongovernmental para-church organization meeting the needs of military personnel and their families around the world. They pioneered programs at various bases in San Diego, California and Tidewater Virginia. In addition to counseling, speaking, and mentoring, Jim spearheaded efforts to serve the military community more effectively by improving the coordination and spirit of cooperation between several non-profit organizations. A highlight of Jim’s service was his participation with 600 senior Russian officers in the groundbreaking 1993 Russian-American Military Humanitarian Conference, held at the former Lenin Political Military Institute in Moscow.
Seeking higher education, Jim earned a Masters Degree in Public Policy, finishing 1st of 55 graduates, and a law degree, finishing 1st in his class of 162. Jim was named to the National Law School Deans’ List and Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He received a full scholarship all four years, and was one of 12 students chosen nationally to receive the prestigious Sons of Italy Scholarship.
Jim recently served as a law clerk (staff attorney) at the Supreme Court of Virginia, where he assisted the Justices in handling appeals. Prior to that, Jim served as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General and in the Attorney General’s Office of Legislative Liaison.
Jim is past chairman and currently vice-chairman of the Governor's Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, a position to which he was appointed by the Governor. He is also a lifetime member of the American Legion, the Navy League, and the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. He coaches youth basketball and is a supporter of Tuckahoe Little League and Western Wildcat youth football.
Jim and his family are actively involved in Grace Community Church in Short Pump. Jim enjoys running, reading history, traveling with Jan and the boys, and sports with his three sons.
[edit] Scandals
In 2006, Fiorelli became embroiled in two scandals of national educational significance. The first occurred in April of 2006 when Fiorelli was accused of harassing and making extreme requests upon several of his son's teachers at Pocahontas Middle School. His son was a House of Delegates page for the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Fiorelli picked up the student's work while he was living in downtown Richmond for the extent of the legislative session. Procedures for collection of student assignments vary among schools. The complaint was issued by the Henrico Education Association on behalf of all the teachers involved.[citation needed]
In September of 2006, the Richmond Times-Dispatch revealed that Fiorelli had brought his county issued laptop in for service and thousands of pornographic images were found on the laptop. Fiorelli reported that it was one of his 3 sons who accessed the inappropriate images on his laptop, and feels that it should be handled as an internal student disciplinary matter. [1] In the private investigation of what was viewed on the laptop, pornographic websites were visited just minutes after visiting a state e-mail account.[2] A total of 284 animated pornographic images were found on Fiorelli's laptop included animated cartoon pornography, as well as over 40 explicit videos.[citation needed]
