Stokes drops re-election bid for Albemarle School Board

Jon Stokes on Thursday dropped his bid for re-election to the Albemarle County School Board, throwing his support behind his friend and county Planning Commission Chairman Eric Strucko.

Stokes, whose first term on the board will end in December, said he made the decision to spend more time with his son and daughter, who will enter her senior at Western Albemarle High School.

“There are a lot of things in these past four years that I have not been able to do with them,” said Stokes, who made his announcement in the lobby of the Albemarle County Office Building. “Tonight I will miss my son’s band concert and my daughter’s athletic banquet. I’m having to be a little bit selfish. I want to spend time with my family, especially in my daughter’s senior year.”

Stokes said he feels comfortable with Strucko taking over his seat, representing the Samuel Miller District. Both men have children in the school system and share views on the need for careful fiscal management.

“I believe he is the ideal person to succeed me,” Stokes said. “He has a strong financial background, is a leader in the community and is dedicated to public service.”

County school boards are nonpartisan races in Virginia, and neither man is running in association with a party.

Strucko, whose two children attend Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, said he has time to serve on the board before his children get into their later grades. He said being a parent brings an important perspective to school-related debate.

“My wife, Laurie, and I are very pleased with what our children have experienced in the Albemarle County school system and my children are thriving in the public schools,” Strucko said. “I’m concerned with making sure our fiscal resources are spent in the best places, that we hire and retain the best teachers.”

Strucko, 44, said his experience as chief financial officer for the University of Virginia Health Services Foundation gives him a strong understanding of how to use and prioritize limited fiscal resources.

“It’s a tough economy out there and there’s immense pressure on the available tax dollars,” Strucko said. “It’s hard to sit down and decide what to leave alone and what to change, but that’s what I do for a living.”

Strucko, who has run unsuccessfully for the county Board of Supervisors in the past, has also served on the county development initiatives committee, housing committee, the government affairs committee of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and as the finance council chairman at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

He’s served as a paramedic and as treasurer of the Western Albemarle Volunteer Rescue Squad and as a firefighter and president of the Earlysville Volunteer Fire Company.

He’s also served on the school district’s long-range planning advisory committee, the Meriwether Lewis PTO, board of trustees of the Free Union Country School and was former Gov. Mark R. Warner’s appointee to the Miller School board of trustees.

His position as Planning Commission chairman ends in December, along with his term on the commission.