My name is Brian Wheeler and today, I am officially announcing my candidacy for the at-large seat on the Albemarle County School Board.  I am running because I want to help make a good school system a truly exceptional one.  My strong support of public education, my understanding of this school system and my business experience will be tremendous assets for our schools and our children.

A little over three years ago I started gathering neighbor's e-mail addresses. My goal was to create a new Internet newsletter for my daughter's elementary school. Why? Because we needed to raise awareness about class size problems.

When I went into the voting booth that year, November 1999, I didn’t know who was even on the ballot for School Board. I couldn't make an informed decision, so I decided to learn as much as possible about our schools. Over the 6 months that followed…

My activities grew beyond the communication of class size issues.  I helped mobilize parents from around the County to push for full funding of the school budget, and to include a provision for class size emergency relief.

Now, I come before you today as a concerned parent who has given this race, this seat, this responsibility a great deal of thought over the past year.  I intend to give the citizens of Albemarle a clear choice in this November's election.  And, if elected, a strong voice in the improvement of this school system.

My mind is open, and during this campaign I want to learn as much as possible from the people of Albemarle, from other parents, from teachers and administrators, and from students.  If elected, I will continue to be a good listener and a student of educational best practices.

On some issues, I do already have strong opinions:

I favor the raising of employee salaries above the average of our competitive market.  Competitive compensation is what we will need to attract and retain the best teachers for our children.  We know Albemarle has a bubble of teachers reaching retirement age, as does the rest of the state.  We know Albemarle has a high turnover rate for new teachers.  The competitive market should be just that.  It should reflect the systems we are truly competing with for teachers and be made up of counties with a similar cost of living.  Our compensation should reflect our performance expectations and the accomplishments we have already made.

I favor the lowering of the elementary school class sizes.  If we lower the baseline class size just a little, principals will have extra resources which they can use to hire teaching assistants.  I support differentiated funding which gives additional teachers to schools that need them, but only after the establishment of a reasonable baseline class size.  I will ensure all our students have a learning environment conducive to success.

On the School Board, I will be an advocate for our one-thousand teachers and for excellence in teaching, not a skeptic of their actions or motivations.  I will help celebrate the success and dedication demonstrated by our employees.  Albemarle County has six National Board Certified teachers.  When an employee demonstrates this level of excellence in the classroom and in their field, we should give them more than a certificate they can frame.  We need to reward their accomplishments and motivate them to mentor other teachers who can follow their lead.

You know, as I look at the flags at half-staff behind us, in memory of the astronauts who lost their lives this past week, I can't help but to think of the exceptional teachers that must have inspired them as children to become rocket scientists, or maybe we should says "scientists on rockets."  We have great teachers like that in Albemarle.  We need to retain them and get more.

The School Board only hires the Superintendent, but it must look out for the needs of all system employees.  I favor open government and the sharing of information with the public.  However, unlike my opponent, I won’t take that principle and violate our teachers' trust in their employer by releasing confidential personnel information.

I will be an advocate for education to the Board of Supervisors.  The Supervisors approve the County budget, and 60% of those funds go to the schools.  The Supervisors need a School Board that they can communicate with and that demonstrates strong leadership and wise decision-making. 

As your at-large School Board member, I will expand my efforts to improve communications in Albemarle about school issues.  This is important for parents, staff and the population at-large.  The taxpayer needs to understand how our schools are being administered, that the Superintendent and School Board are accountable for the system's performance, and that the taxpayer is always getting the most bang for their education buck.

Everything I have ever said publicly about schools in e-mails, letters to the editor, and in public hearings is already on the Internet and available to the public.  My record is an open book.  As a School Board member, I will improve the flow of information between the voters and the Board. 

We have started that process with our campaign website released today at the following address:  www.wheeleronboard.com  Please take a look.

I want to thank a number of people who have helped motivate me to get involved in our schools.  First and foremost, my wife and family.  Jean Wheeler and my children Abby and Sam.  They have had to share me a lot over the past few years as I have focused on education during time not already spent at a very demanding job.  Thank you Jean for your love and support.

A lot of people have encouraged me over the years to get involved.  Two women in particular made a big difference, my neighbor Kathy Verell and Emily Couric.  They both challenged me to get involved with the School Board.  Kathy is here today and I want to say thank you for all she does to advocate for our children and to support her community.  Many others have come together to help launch this campaign including former Board members John Baker and Madison Cummings.  Thank you for your past leadership and for your encouragement to embark on this campaign.  I could not have done it without you.

This election is still 9 months away.  However, Gary Grant declared his candidacy last summer and is already campaigning.  I don’t think this is going to be an easy race.  I need your help not only on November 4^th, but every month in between.  The School Board has 4 seats up this election year and we need to ensure the candidates that get our support are the ones who can best address the needs of our schools, who can work with staff to define a vision for the future of education in Albemarle, and who can rally the public to make that vision a reality.  I believe I can help make that happen.  With your help, we will provide an excellent school system for all 12,000 of our students.  I look forward to the opportunity to serve this community and I would greatly appreciate your support.  Thank you very much for coming out today.