CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Two incumbents, Emily Dooley and Lisa Larson-Torres, appear to have kept their spots on the Charlottesville School Board, but it was newcomer Zyahna Bryant who brought in the most votes to join that body in a race where four candidates were vying for three seats.
Dashad Cooper was unofficially the odd man out, finishing fourth.
Bryant, a political activist and product of the city school system, garnered 8,806 votes. Dooley earned a second term after receiving 8,721 votes. Larson-Torres, who won a third term, had 8,334.
All nine precincts reported and the count included Election Day, early voting and mail-in ballots.
“That’s wild,” Bryant said reacting to getting the most votes. “I didn’t really know what to expect, honestly every day I was playing scenarios in my head. The more I showed up for early voting as we got closer to the election, some people were like ‘oh I don’t want to talk’, ‘I don’t want to have a conversation’, ‘I don’t need literature’, so I didn’t really know what to expect.”
Cooper had 6,625 votes.
“Let me be clear: we are in unprecedented times right now and we need energy, advocacy like never before, and we need experience,” Larson-Torres said. “Experience is what I have and what I offer moving forward.”
Thanking supporters at Kardinal Hall upon the final unofficial numbers being posted on the Virginia Department of Elections website, Bryant said, “It’s really a hard process to run for office. I didn’t know, but now I know.”
The first thing Bryant – who made a name for herself as an eighth grader, circulating petitions to have Confederate monuments removed from downtown parks, wants to do on the School Board is, “to elevate student voice. That’s so important to me as someone who grew up as a student leaders and did work like that. I think it’s so important we make sure young people are at the decision-making table and having the ear of those who make the important decisions.”
Dooley is the current School Board chairperson.
“As both an educator and as a parent, I know how much schools mean to this community, and also how important my approach of steady and thoughtful leadership is right now,” Dooley said at the recent school board candidate forum. “I believe that with steady leadership and shared commitment to our students, we can continue to make Charlottesville schools a place where every child is seen, supported, and inspired.”
