As pundits and political activists focus on the statewide races for governor and attorney general as well as several competitive local delegate races, he special election to fill the vacant Providence District seat on Fairfax County School Board has largely been overlooked. But a few key players have made endorsements in the contest to replace former School Board member Phil Niedzielski-Eichner, who stepped down last summer to take a job with President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Fairfax Education Association, the county’s largest teachers union, has gotten behind John Jennison, a Mantua community resident who is the former president of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Association.

FAIRGRADE, a new parent advocacy group which organized thousands of parents and students to protest Fairfax County Public Schools’ grading policies last year, is supporting Patty Reed, an Oakton resident who had been active in efforts to change the grading scale.

THOUGH THE OFFICE is technically nonpartisan, successful School Board candidates often receive the backing of one of the major political parties, according to several people familiar with the process.

Jennison, a longtime political activist who had raised money for several of U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly’s (D-11) campaigns, received the Democratic Party endorsement. Reed received the Republican Party endorsement. A third candidate, Chris DeCarlo, is also running for the office without party endorsement.

Niedzielski-Eichner, who was in the middle of his second term on the School Board, had been endorsed by the Democratic Party in his 2003 and 2007 campaigns.

FAIRFAX EDUCATION ASSOCIATION President Leonard Bumbaca said his organization liked both Reed and Jennison and had lively debate over which candidate to ultimately endorse.

In the end, they chose Jennison for strategic purposes, believing that his personal relationships with many members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors would be helpful to the School Board, and ultimately the school system, during county budget deliberations.

The Fairfax Education Association thinks Fairfax County will have to transfer more money to the school system than the supervisors are currently considering to meet the county’s educational needs, said Bumbaca.

Since Jennison already has a personal relationship with many people on Fairfax County’s board, including Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At-large), he may have a better chance of convincing the supervisors to increase the transfer to the schools.

“We have a great deal of respect for Patty Reed and think she would do great things as a School Board member. We liked what they both had to say in their interviews but we think John Jennison might have more influence,” said Bumbaca.

JENNISON’S clout with the supervisors may have something to do with his long record of community service, particularly his tenure as head of the countywide citizens association, which is viewed as an organization that speaks for a broad coalition of Fairfax residents.

As president of the federation, Jennison would have given input to the Fairfax supervisors on a variety of issues, from the county budget to Fairfax’s affordable housing program. Jennison also served on a few county committees that advise the supervisors. He was an appointed member on the county’s revitalization and reinvestment committee and the Tysons Corner land use advisory task force, both of which dealt with economic development issues.

But a portion of Jennison’s contact with the supervisors also stems from his activism with the Democratic Party and particularly his relationship with Connolly, who is a neighbor of Jennison’s.

Prior to joining the U.S. Congress, Connolly was Fairfax County chairman for five years and Providence District supervisor for eight years.

Currently, seven out of the 10 supervisors on the Fairfax County board are Democrats.

“I am not hiding anything. I have been a Democratic volunteer,” said Jennison.

BUT SOME PARENTS are unhappy about the political parties’ overwhelming influence in what is supposed to be a nonpartisan race.

“We have discovered that what is supposed to be a nonpartisan position is actually very partisan. I am hoping the endorsements from parent groups can become more valuable than endorsements from political parties,” said Catherine Lorenze, a FAIRGRADE spokesperson and McLean resident.

But Lorenze said FAIRGRADE did not chose Reed because Jennison is affiliated with the Democrats. The organization’s leadership, which includes people from both political parties, thought Reed would do a better job of improving the School Board’s communication with parents than Jennison would.

Lorenze said FAIRGRADE is concerned that the School Board is turning a deaf ear to parental concerns, particularly when it comes to conflicts with Superintendent Jack Dale and the school system’s central administration.

“This felt like the perfect opportunity for us to say the parent community still does not feel like it is being heard,” said Lorenze.

She added that Reed had been active in the fight to change Fairfax County’s grading scale when Jennison had not. The group was also concerned that Jennison might be using the Providence District School Board seat as a stepping stone for other political aspirations.

JENNISON said he is not using the School Board seat as a springboard to higher office.

“If I wanted to set myself up to be the next governor of Virginia, this wouldn’t be the way to do it. The budget cycle we are facing is going to require some tough decisions from the School Board and it is not going to make a lot of people happy.”

The civic activist said he had been asked to run for office several times in the past and that he decided to run for School Board this time because he wanted help guide the community through the current economic downturn. He also has more free time now that his children are older.

“With Phil unexpectedly resigning and the county facing a revenue shortfall, some really tough decisions are going to have to be made,” he said.

Jennison also said in addition to leading the nonpartisan citizens association federation, Jennison was also president of the Mantua Elementary Parent Teachers Association [PTA] from 2004 to 2005 and on the Fairfax Little League Board of Directors from 1999 to 2000.

As president of the Mantua PTA and citizens association, Jennison helped fight to get a sidewalk installed near the school, so that more children could walk to the building safely, he said.

In addition to having children in the Woodson Secondary School pyramid graduate, Jennison is also a 1973 graduate of Stuart High School in Falls Church.

REED has also been endorsed by a political party and she said she identifies with many of the Republican values.

She considers herself a fiscal conservative and wants to bring in an independent auditor to look for efficiencies in both the overall school system’s budget as well as specifically in the school’s transportation department budget.

“You hear these crazy stories of the same school buses crossing Route 50 many times over,” she said.

Reed said any money spent on consultants to help the school system look for budget efficiencies is likely to be more than recovered when some of the cost saving measures recommended by the consultant are implemented.

But the candidate sought support from the Republicans because she heard she needed a political party’s endorsement to be a viable candidate.

“I was told by several people, including a friend on the School Board, that it was absolutely essential,” said Reed.

Reed, who has volunteered for classroom teachers in the Oakton pyramid over the past 15 years, said her work experience would be valuable for the School Board. Reed has managed several multi-million dollar projects for the Environmental Protection Agency and private government contractors.

BOTH CANDIDATES said their top priority would be tackling the school system’s budget, which is likely to face even steeper cuts this year. Last year, the School Board voted to increase the average class size and freeze teachers’ salaries.

Jennison said he would focus on making sure groups with varying interests, including students with disabilities, general education students and students in gifted and talented programs, were participating in budget discussions. He would also try to bring people together, rather than allow various factions to fight amongst themselves.

“Some constituencies have been pitted against each other. I want to try and find common ground. There is going to be a compromise where probably no one gets everything they want,” said Jennison.

The Democratically endorsed candidate said he would be most concerned with protecting class size for core subjects and would like to look at having different student-to-teacher ratios for different subjects. For example, perhaps the size of an art or music classroom could be larger than an English or Math class.

Reed said she believes that more money could be cut out of the school system’s central administration budget and the transportation budget.