School funding and ensuring that diverse groups of students receive a quality education are two of the issues in the race for the Garrisonville District seat on the Stafford County School Board this year.
Incumbent Maureen Siegmund, who is serving as the board’s chairwoman, faces Wanda Blackwell, who is endorsed by the Stafford Democratic Committee, and Stephanie Mojica, who has been endorsed by the Stafford Republicans. School board candidates officially run as independents but can be endorsed by political parties.
Siegmund’s previous experience spans local government, nonprofits, higher education, and the private sector, and she said in a recent interview that she was able to get to work immediately in her first term.
“I came to the table in 2022 carrying the wealth of information that I was able to instantly deploy to the benefit of Stafford County,” she said.
She faces two challengers in one of the county’s two three-way local races, but she said she was not surprised by that turn of events.
“The Democratic Party has been very successful locally in trying to get candidates in every race, and the Republican Party and I have not been seeing eye to eye over the past couple of years,” said Siegmund, who was endorsed by the Stafford GOP four years ago.
The incumbent, the only current School Board member with children in Stafford schools, said one of her biggest accomplishments over the past four years is making progress on capital improvements. When she started, the county had a sixth high school approved but didn’t have the land locked down. And there were no new elementary schools approved or rebuilds of old schools on the way.
Now, Hartwood High School and Falls Run and Crow’s Nest elementary schools are getting ready to open, and rebuilds of Drew Middle School and Hartwood Elementary will follow.
On meeting the needs of diverse students, she said her family took her children out of Catholic schools because the institutions couldn’t meet all of their needs.
And whether it’s dealing with special needs, gifted education or English for speakers of other languages, Stafford schools need to serve the community they have, Siegmund said at a candidates forum the Free Press held back on Sept. 10.
Another matter that came up this year in county budget talks was the possibility of Stafford employing a revenue-sharing agreement in the future. This would entail the Board of Supervisors agreeing to dedicate a certain percentage of local revenue each year to the schools.
Siegmund said she struggles with this concept and has several questions.
“This topic seems to come up because people are tired of boards not trusting each other,” she said at the forum at Germanna Community College’s Stafford campus. “And, if that’s the case, how are we going to trust boards to set a rate that is supposed to fund the schools in perpetuity?”
Wanda Blackwell
Blackwell is interested in a potential revenue-sharing agreement.
At the candidate forum, she said so far nothing has worked in terms of trying to get the supervisors to fully fund what the School Board says are the division’s budgetary needs. So why not try revenue-sharing?
“I am one of those individuals who believe that you have to try something,” she said.
Blackwell, who moved to Stafford in 2006, is a veteran of more than two decades in the Army. She has a daughter who attended Rodney Thompson Middle School and graduated from North Stafford High School.
Wanda Blackwell (Courtesy of Wanda Blackwell)
Blackwell has also served in a number of roles in the community, including being heavily involved with the Stafford County Branch of the NAACP.
Her campaign website says she will work to make sure redistricting is based on data, to retain quality teachers and to “ensure that decisions always put students first.”
She also is committed to transparency and open communication, the site says, and she wants to make sure families are “heard, informed and valued” at all times.
In terms of educating diverse groups of students, Blackwell said she looks back to her experience working with varying types of people in the military. To help someone learn, you have to get to know them and discern how to reach them, she said.
“You have to understand how they learn,” she said.
Put another way, she proclaims the importance of education for all in large letters on her website: “I believe the power of education is unlimited, especially when that education is equal.”
Stephanie Mojica
At the candidates’ forum, Mojica said she has personal experience with the issue of educational equality. She has a child with an individualized education program (IEP), which is frequently used with students with special needs.
She wasn’t happy with it, though, and it took a lot of meetings with school officials to make changes.
Mojica said she’s heard similar stories from other parents.
“They’re noticing things, you know, with their own child’s IEP, and one parent brought up that they’re just pushing the kids along on to the next grade, but they’re not learning,” she said.
To prevent such a scenario, Stafford’s schools need to make sure they have special-education teachers who are properly trained to fulfill IEPs, Mojica said.
Mojica moved to the county in 2007. She has three children, with two in Stafford schools.
Stephanie Mojica (Courtesy of Stephanie Mojica)
While she’s currently a stay-at-home mom, she has experience both in the criminal justice system and the Stafford treasurer’s office.
Her campaign is based on what she says is bringing accountability, transparency and a stronger voice for parents to the school board.
On funding for education, Mojica said at the forum that she believes in working with the Board of Supervisors to try to get additional money from the state.
“So I do believe that we need to start looking at other avenues versus keep making it a burden on [local] taxpayers because I’ve heard people say that they’re moving out of Stafford because it’s just become so expensive,” she said.
Other solutions are out there, Mojica said.
“It’s so easy to say there’s nothing we can do,” she said.
