The Virginia Beach School Board will have a new majority in January, with seven members who have been supported by the city’s democratic committee.
The 11-person board is supposed to be apolitical. School board races are nonpartisan, but candidates are endorsed by the city’s Republican and Democratic parties.
This election, four candidates supported by the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee won their seats. They’ll join three members who also were supported by the committee when they ran in 2024.
It could signal an ideological shift for the board that determines division policy and guides funding.
Who will be on the dais in January?
Three board members didn't seek re-election: Michael Callan, David Culpepper and Kim Melnyk; Melnyk leaned Democratic
Antionette Kahan and Natalie Bray, who were endorsed by the teachers' union and Virginia Beach Democratic Committee, won Callan's and Culpepper's seats.
Betty Spencer, also endorsed by the two groups, beat out chair Kathleen Brown, who had been on the board since 2022.
Alveta Green, another endorsed by the union and democratic committee, won re-election.
In the other races, Zach Taylor won Melnyk’s seat.
Vice Chair Carolyn Weems, who has sat on the board since 2002, eked out a re-election bid, beating Suzanne Berman by 105 votes, according to unofficial results. Berman, who was endorsed by the teachers’ union and VB Democratic Committee, said in a Facebook post she is considering a recount.
The new members join Mark Bohenstiel, Matt Cummings, Rose Dwyer, Sharon Felton and Melinda Rogers. Cummings, Felton and Rogers were endorsed by the VB Democratic Committee when they ran in 2024.
The board has been guided by a conservative-leaning majority that’s evolved since the 2022 election. Brown, the outgoing chair, was among the new faces that year.
She said last week after the election, one of her greatest accomplishments is helping create what she felt was a more open space for constituents.
“When I first got on the board, families and community members and constituents would come to the school board meetings, and they would be dismissed, ignored,” she said. “I'm very proud of the fact that we were able to shift that and make sure that it was a respectful environment for community members to come and voice their concerns and their opinions.”
That shift was in line with a nationwide change that was powered by groups such as Moms for Liberty. It came after families expressed anger with how divisions handled the COVID-19 pandemic and other cultural topics, including diversity, equity and inclusion, and protections for LGBTQIA students.
Some of those same topics came before the Virginia Beach School Board, igniting passions on both sides.
Brown said she joined the board when there was “a lot of chaos” and “focus on various social issues that were not related to education.” Her focus, she said, was on academics, citing the board’s approval of more advanced courses and increasing workforce development opportunities.
Green, a retired Virginia Beach educator and administrator, joined the board two years ago after winning a special election. She said she’s seen the political dynamics shift over time, exacerbated by federal leadership that is increasingly less likely to reach across the aisle.
“I don't know if we've ever rebounded from some of those relationships that may have been wounded during that time,” she said, speaking of the pandemic. “It has become, you know, them against us.”
The recent change may be in part because of the “Blue Wave,” or the sweeping election of democratic candidates across the U.S.
Sean Monteiro, chairperson of the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee, said candidates do the lion’s share of the work to get elected, but it’s important to let voters know where candidates stand even in races that are nonpartisan.
“Unions and other organizations that endorse candidates contribute to that win,” he said.
Looking past January
But Green and some of her colleagues hope a new board is a chance to realign its goals and refocus.
“I'm excited because I think we will have a better working relationship because we all have the same goal, and that's what's in the best interests of our students,” she said. “We just have to learn how to respectfully navigate and come to decisions together that would benefit our students without it becoming so political or such a divide.”
Part of that could come with a change in leadership, Green and Rogers said. Rogers said she hopes a new chair and vice chair will focus on updating the community more clearly and frequently.
“I would love to see a school board that has more conversations with our staff, more conversations with our parents and specifically a better reach with our community,” Rogers said.
She wants the board to be “a lot more transparent about the work we're actually doing, the policies that we are considering, and ones that we are changing, and just ways for our community to be more engaged.”
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