No Recommendation
About the Race
The election for the Portsmouth School Board is held on November 3, 2020 during the general election. It is an at-large election to fill all five open seats on the school board. There are nine candidates running in this race: Ingrid Whitaker, Yolonda Thomas, and LaKeesha Atkinson, Arnette “Love” McSwain, Barry Randall, Vernon Tillage, Gary Bunting and incumbents Angelia Allen and Sarah Duncan Hinds.
About the District
Portsmouth is an independent city in Hampton Roads which is located on the western side of the Elizabeth River. It has a population of approximately 100,000. The city reliably votes Democratic in presidential elections, with every Democratic candidate of the last twenty years winning with over 60% of the vote. However, the city still has some conservative values, as evidenced by the City Council’s decision to declare Portsmouth a Second Amendment sanctuary city.
Recommendation
Current school board member LaKeesha “Klu” Atkinson ran as a progressive when she was first elected to the Portsmouth school board in 2016. She was the first openly LGBTQ+ individual elected to the city’s School Board. She is the founder of an activist organization called Believe, Pray, Overcome, an advocacy and educational organization that has sponsored several fundraisers for progressive causes, including sending water to Flint, Michigan, and giving free haircuts to homeless members of the community. She serves on the local NAACP Men Alleviating Negativity Foundation Board.
During her time on the school board, Atkinson implemented programs to prevent bullying, particularly against LGBTQ+ students.
She oversaw five schools in Portsmouth, earning a Virginia State Board honor for academic improvements. Atkinson supported keeping raises for teachers in the Portsmouth School Board budget, even after revenue problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She has used her position to shine a light on unnecessary child gun deaths.
Atkinson has lived her values of helping students. She was once charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice for trying to stop police from questioning minors without proper legal oversight. The charges were later dropped.
Yolanda Thomas is a Portsmouth native who returned to the city after graduating from UVA to work as a bridge consultant working with multiple government agencies and private companies.
Thomas believes that Portsmouth can have the top-ranked school system in Hampton Roads. She supports immersive language classes starting in the first grade.
Thomas wants to expand Career and Technical Education programs to include data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. She believes that expanding STEM opportunities will be beneficial for Portsmouth schools.
Finally, she wants to build supportive out-of-school and after-school programs for students throughout the city.
Thomas believes parental involvement and strong PTA relationships are vital to successful schools.
Thomas has been very vocal about the need to have comprehensive testing in place if students plan to return to school in the Fall and has actively sought input from local parents and teachers on the matter.
Ingrid Whitaker is a local Portsmouth teacher who served on the School Board before losing re-election in 2018. During her time on the school board, she advocated for fully funding Portsmouth schools, including teacher pay raises and additional services for students.
Whitaker wants to prioritize consistent raises for teacher salaries, create new after-school programs to support students, and expand career and technical education. She supported providing students access to wifi outside of school environments even before the pandemic. She wanted teachers and schools to be aware of the discrepancies in learning at home between students who do not have access to high-speed internet.
She also believes that adding more social workers and counselors to schools can improve students’ academic performance and emotional health and ensure at-risk students do not fall through the cracks.
Incumbents Angelia Allen and Sarah Duncan Hinds have supported some progressive measures. Portsmouth was the first school district in Hampton Roads to vote for maintaining previously-budgeted teacher pay raises in danger of being cut due budget shortfalls caused by COVID-19 by a unanimous vote. The School Board also voted to remove Confederate names from Portsmouth schools. They also oversaw five schools in Portsmouth that earned a Virginia State Board honor for academic improvements.
However, the School Board also voted to put a clause in teacher contracts that would permit schools to furlough them if classes do not resume in the fall. The Board also voted to extend the Portsmouth Superintendent’s contract without proper review and offered him a 2-year salary severance package, which is double a superintendents’ average severance package. There are ongoing disputes related to this issue amongst School Board members and local political groups.
Newcomer Arnette “Love” McSwain is a minister who runs a program for women who are victims of domestic violence. She has no platform information posted about her school board run.
Candidate Barry Randal has no visible platform or campaign website.
Another candidate, Vernon Tillage, was once State Senator Louise Lucas’ Chief of Staff. He currently works for U.S. Senator Mark Warner doing outreach. He has no campaign information posted.
Candidate Willie Bamberg, II is a combat veteran, former business owner, and currently a Chaplain with the Portsmouth Police Department where he is also employed (part-time) as the Community Outreach Specialist. His platform includes vocational training, alternative school, 100% accreditation, and competitive pay for faculty. Based on the available information, Bamberg is not the most progressive choice in this race.
The final candidate, Gary Bunting, has no information posted about his run for School Board and has very little information publicly available.
Portsmouth School Board - No Rec
About the Race
About the Race
The election for President of the United States is on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Former Vice President and Senator from Delaware Joe Biden (D) is running against the current president, Donald J. Trump (R), a businessman and former reality television star.
About the State
Every eligible voter may cast a ballot in the presidential election. The majority of the U.S. population has voted Democratic for the last twenty-eight years, except 2004. However, the allocation of electoral college votes led to Republicans taking the White House in two of those seven elections. Turnout is typically higher during presidential election years, though 2018 saw the highest record turnout for a non-presidential election since 1914, with 50.3% of the electorate turning out to vote. Turnout for the 2016 election was at 55.7%. In 2008, when the nation elected President Barack Obama (D), turnout was 58.2% but dropped to 54.9% in 2012.