Social Worker Declares for School Board

Burke resident Jeannie Armstrong has announced her intention to run for a Fairfax County Public Schools School Board at-large seat.

Armstrong emphasized her past credentials and work with students as a social worker in a brief speech outside the Fairfax office of The Fairfax County Government Employees Union and the Service Employees International Union on Wednesday. She has worked as a social worker both in FCPS and in private practice for nearly 30 years.

Armstrong stressed her focus on helping county students, from minority students and students with special needs to those who are already achieving.

“I have two special needs children,” Armstrong said. “I know what it’s like to have to fight for them to keep them from being pushed out of the school system.”

Armstrong also addressed the discipline policy, which has come under considerable criticism recently.

“The discipline policy has to be changed,” Armstrong said. “We cannot be a school system in which we push students out of the system, directing them outside of the community.”

Armstrong gave an example from her past social work experience, of a “very good” student who began acting out after his mother’s office was affected by the attacks on 9/11.  The student was ultimately expelled from school.

“It has to be based on an individual’s needs and on the circumstances,” Armstrong said. “We need to put policies in place to address these issues because a kid such as this should not have been expelled from the system.”

Armstrong said she would hold monthly town hall meetings where parents could talk to her face to face on issues that are important to them.

“It’s an easy thing to do but a school board representative has to be willing to do it and have to be willing to come out from behind that lectern,” Armstrong said. “There are parents out there who are struggling every day, who would never come to a school board meeting and speak behind a lectern and risk getting on TV. This voice needs to be heard as well.”

Armstrong said she planned to run independently, without seeking endorsements from either political party.

“I will be an independent voice,” Armstrong said. “My loyalty is to Fairfax county students and Fairfax county parents.”

The President of the Fairfax County Federation Of Teachers has stepped forward to endorse Armstrong in the election.

"Jeannie will work to improve conditions for our overworked and underpaid school employees,” President Steven Greenburg said in a statement on Armstrong’s website. “She cares about the instructional staff’s perspective and will give them a voice in educational decisions, which will benefit both teachers and students.”

More information on Jeannie Armstrong can be found at http://jeanniearmstrong.com, on Facebookand on Twitter.