US/NC/Durham/elec/2022/05/school board/endorse/Durham Association of Educators

Durham Association of Educators: 2022 Endorsements for School Board

adapted from GoogleDocs

Candidates Endorsed: Emily Chávez, Bettina Umstead, Matt Sears, Natalie Beyer, Millicent Rogers

• For School Board District 1, we endorse Emily Chávez because we find her to be the most qualified and knowledgeable of the candidates in this race. We appreciate her previous classroom experience and multicultural lens. We are excited about her commitment to working collaboratively with DAE and other groups to improve working and learning conditions in DPS.
• For School Board District 2, we endorse Bettina Umstead due to her excellent racial equity lens and commitment to communication with all stakeholders in DPS. She affirms the expertise of educators in their classrooms and buildings, and she also prioritizes actually finding chances to listen to students and public school staff members. She is child centered by empowering the expertise of educators. She has broad knowledge of issues facing public schools and is an advocate of teaching truth to our children.
• For School Board District 3, we endorse Matt Sears because of his many years of collaboration with DAE and support of DPS staff even on difficult issues. He is direct, intentional, and knowledgeable about policy issues in schools, both locally and statewide. We know he will fight for public education and listen to staff. We appreciate that he works by building consensus on the school board around important issues.
• For School Board District 4, we endorse Natalie Beyer for her thorough knowledge of education policy in DPS and NC, as well as her commitment to improving working and learning conditions for all DPS staff and families. She has shown continual empathy for the Durham community and its students, as well as staff. We appreciate that she works by not only researching everything deeply, but also by being proactive and building consensus on the school board around important issues.
• For School Board Consolidated District B, we endorse Millicent Rogers because of her sharp analysis of, among many other things, how the DPS school board can better relate to and support single parents. She strongly supports the Community Schools model as well and is not afraid to advocate to other governing bodies for more funding for public schools. She has demonstrated her commitment to public schools for many years through advocacy work in pro-public schools organizations.

Non-Endorsed

While DAE will work hard to elect our endorsed slate of school board candidates, we also want to recognize the following non-endorsed candidates for participating in our interview process:

• District 1: Jasper Fleming
• District 1: Curtis Hrischuk
• District 3: Gayathri Rajaraman
• District 4: Valarie Jarvis
• District 4: Myca Jeter
• Consolidated B: Joetta MacMiller
• Consolidated B: Frederick Ravin

The following candidates did not participate in our interview process or complete questionnaires. We wish them the best.

• District 2: Christopher Burns
• District 2: Donald Hughes