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With six people vying for five seats, this year's Fairfax City School Board race is a quiet contest, candidates say.

"It's sort of a friendly election," said candidate Mitch A. "Sut" Sutterfield, a former Fairfax High School teacher, who coaches football and wrestling. He is one of three challengers in the race. "It's like a game of musical chairs. If you win, you have to work with four of the people you ran with."

The candidates include challengers Sutterfield, Jim L. Kaplan and Carolyn S. Pitches, longtime school board member Janice B. Miller and incumbents Jon A. Buttram and Tobin M. "Toby" Sorensen.

About once a decade, the city is host to a hot school board race. During an election in the late 1970s, Sutterfield said, candidates debated about the city seceding from Fairfax County Public School system, which the city pays to run its four schools. In the late 1990s, debate raged on consolidating the city's two elementary schools.

"This time, I don't see a lot to fight about," said Sutterfield.

City School Board members are elected every other year to serve two-year terms.

"All elections are pretty similar," said Miller, who is running for re-election. "A May election is a very short time frame. You file in March and it's over in a few months. It's a very compressed election cycle. It's pretty easy."

She said a good voter turnout would be 3,000. When there is a contested mayoral race, higher voter turnout can be achieved, she said. But that is not the case this year. Traditionally, candidates running for city office meet at the Old Town Hall on election night to watch the returns come in.

"All the candidates come, and we have what I call 'Costco catering.' There's beer and wine. ... It's a very nice tradition," Miller said. "No matter who wins, people expect you to get along."

That said, candidates agreed this race is important for their community high school, middle school and two elementary schools.

"The greatest strength of the city school board is that we're a small entity," said Kaplan, 38, father of three school-age children. "We're able to really focus on the issues facing each school."

Parents this year, he said, are concerned about county budget cuts, which would also affect city schools. The city does not have a representative on the Fairfax County School Board, and residents cannot run for school board. Instead, the city's school board lobbies the county for support of its schools.

Fairfax City owns the school facilities, and is charged with maintaining them, candidates said. Attending to this is the undeniable role of the city board, said Sutterfield.

Looking for ways to improve school programs is another task.

"For example, the school board put up money for an [Advanced Placement] boot camp," which would prepare students for what they should expect before courses started, said Sutterfield.

Despite the quiet race, though, when Election Day is over, there will be a loser.

"No one wants to be the odd man out," Kaplan said.

For more information about the Fairfax City School Board race, visit www.fairfaxva.gov.