I am a fellow parent at Stratford Landing and I am behind Michele 100%. I was at the PTA meeting where we were basically told, sorry, no money for Full Day K. We wouldn't take no for an answer, and we had a parent liaison step up and work with Fairfax for Education and they got it done. I attended the gathering at Sherwood Hall Library where there were all these different groups asking that their programs be saved, many I had never even heard of because our school doesn't offer them. There was even a table for KEEPING Full Day K, which really bothered me, and the whole gathering made me realize how the Mount Vernon Cluster as a whole is on the bottom of the totem pole. I love the fact that Michele wants equality for the whole school system. It just isn't fair that they are offering programs to small amounts of the students (Foreign Language immersion is a big one), while some of us still didn't even have FDK.

Dan is reactive, while Michele is proactive. There are so many items that directly concern us as parents which we find out about after the fact. Michele will bring that information to us and we as parents will be able to be actively involved in shaping our children's education.

I could not agree more with you, Cathy! After paying close attention to the School Board races across the County for the last several months, I do feel like Mt. Vernon is at the bottom of the totem pole! How is it possible that while we pay the same amount of taxes, we did not have full-day kindergarten at all of our schools? How is it possible that now our students have to take online Honors courses? Why is it that our schools, with the highest populations at-risk, do not have adequate staff and resources while the other pyramids do? As a taxpayer and parent with children in FCPS for the last 12 years, I do not feel I have been properly served by our School Board and representatives. The Advanced Academic program in our pyramids is completely different from other pyramids, and has gone downhill in the last 5 years; there is even a vast difference within the pyramids in our district. I have been told by Mr. Storck these differences are not the School Board responsibity, but the principals' and administration within our schools. I cannot believe that there is this blame-game going on! I can attest to how hard our school administrators try to work to implement the policies imposed on them by the School Board, while juggling with all the shortcomings our school system is faced with. I, as well as many, many parents, feel shorchanged and strongly believe we NEED new leadership and energy to truly respresent us and our interests in the Mount Vernon District!

I support Michele Nellenbach and first endorsed her in Patch when she declared her candidacy back in May. Cathy Hosek sums up the choice in this race very succinctly: “Dan (Storck) is reactive and Michele is proactive.”

Michele is a problem solver and I’ve seen her lead a grass roots effort involving folks across the county; i.e, Full Day Kindergarten (FDK), fighting for Fairfax County’s fair share education funding from the state, etc. The incumbent School Board was not responsive to parents, as well as all residents (i.e., taxpayers), to find solutions to fund the $8 million for FDK out of a $2.2 billion budget. Instead, the Board of Supervisors had to offer solutions of its own and “encouraged” the School Board to reprioritize by limiting the County’s transfer to the school budget. At the debate, Dan Storck said it takes 7 votes on the Board to do anything. He said it like it was “his out”, for not getting things done. While Mr Storck is a very nice man, I think it’s time for a more persuasive representative on the School Board. Vote for Michele Nellenbach.

The Mt Vernon district and Fairfax County have been well served by Dan Storck. He has applied his good business sense to the fiscal needs of Fairfax County and our children. He's shown strong support for full day kindergarten since he was first elected, which is but one example of how he has been a consistent advocate for our children.

Dan HAS supported full day kindergarten since before he got on the board in 2004.He has voted for full-day kindergarten numerous times.When it was implemented, he was in foavor of rolling it out over 3 years, but the Board of Supervisors ( BOS ) would only fund it for 5 year roll out. The Great recession hit at theend of the roll out, and there were not sufficient votes on the school board to continue to pay the 8 million to finish implementing full day kindergarten when they were freezing salaries and laying teachers off. At the time they imposed fees for AP, IB, and athletics, and were talking about cutting full day Monday's and band/ orchestra. Dan would have loved to continue the full day kindergarten roll out, particularly when it came to his home school, Stratford Landing. But you can't do anything without 7 votes or without funding from the BOS. Finally the BOS allocated extra money for full day kindergarten this year and Dan was definitely involved in making this a reality.

If Dan was doing his job he would have created a coalition of parents and demanded full day kindergarten but he failed to do this and sat back as concerned parents made full day kindergarten happen. All he did was vote yes. Also, as you pointed out there is a serious budget issue with schools but Dan Stork voted for a 67% salary increase for School Board Members....outrageous. See link for article on pay raise for School Board members. http://connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=273693&paper=66&cat=109

Last night Mr. Stork took credit for FDK and said he always supported the issue. He then stated (in response to a question) that he let another board member fight for the issue. In fact, Mr. Stork said NO when the people he represents asked for help so the people he represents went elsewhere for leadership.

If jumping on the bandwagon and taking credit after others did the fighting is leadership, then we need new leadership

Read the front page article of the Mount Vernon Gazette called School Agenda: Restoring Honors, which gives a very goof background on how West Potomac got robbed of a three-tier education with the removal of Honors classes. "The last phase-out at West Potomac HS is where the impact was felt immediately and dramatically, as the diversity of the student body triggered parents concerns that this phase-out was not in the best interest of the student body. Storck and patents acknowledged that no formal vote on the phase-out took place, although Storck says that the School Board did discuss the matter at a work session". Why didn't Mr. Storck demand a formal vote on behalf of his constituents? Mt. Vernon HS is the third in dropout rates in the County, the minority achievement gap is becoming wider every day in our schools, we are not getting our fair share in the District compared to other FCPS pyramids. I judge leadership and efficacy based on metrics and results. If you are happy with the way things are, vote for Storck. If you are not, you should vote for Michele on November 8!

A quick comment about full day K---There were several of us on the Board, myself included that had quite a few schools without full day k. We all understood on the Board the need for full implementation. Dan knew like all of us the value the program brought to our students. He supported all efforts to expand full day k to the remaining schools which of course included Stratford Landing. I relied on Dan to assist me to get the votes needed for this program's implementation for this school year. I applaud Michelle's work on this initiative and all the full day K parents. Dan's support and assistance to gain member votes for passage was imperative. In the end, on the School Board, an issue's funding and survival comes down to votes.

While I appreciate your loyalty to a fellow SB member, Ms. Bradsher, I resent the fact that a member from another district (Springfield in this case) tries to influence the decisions of Mount Vernon district parents. Our district and issues are frankly quite different. In fact, why should any FCPS parent, or taxpayer for that matter, trust anything you have to say? It's  my understanding you ran with the GOP endorsement, and after elected, betrayed the very people that elected you to office. I have also heard that you have been part of the problem, and not the solutions, as a member of the current SB. You do not represent the  the change, transparency and accountability that teachers, parents, taxpayers and students are looking for in our districts and for our At-Large members. Again, thanks for the input, but Mt. Vernon residents know better than you what it is that we need in our schools and district.

Thank you. houseofBurke! So we have Ms. Bradsher, for those of you who do not know, allowing Clifton Elementary to close down while her constituents begged and pleaded against it, vouching for Mr.Storck. Do we see a pattern here? I do, it is all about how many votes, not about truly representing the citizens that voted you into office and advocating for their interests. I see Mt. Vernon citizens not well represented, in the same manner Springfiled District residents do not feel well represented by Ms. Bradsher. I rest my case!

For those of you with any doubts on how the SB is spending the 2.2 billion dollar budget a year they manage and have at their disposal, take a peek of pictures of their administrative building here

http://redapplemom.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/fcps-pictures-you-must-see-to-believe/