Three new faces will fill the four seats of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board that were up for election last month: Vickie Fornville, Meredith Ballew and Barbara Fedders; board chair Rani Dasi was the only candidate to be re-elected.
A new board chair will be appointed December 7, 2023 when the new board members are sworn in. The three new board members will replace Jillian La Serna, Ashton Powell, and Deon Temne.
Dasi received 20.1% of the vote; Fedders was close behind with 19.2%; and Ballew and Fornville received 11.3 and 9.3 percent of the vote respectively in their successful school board campaigns.
“Local elections matter so much to our daily lives,” Dasi, the mother of two Chapel Hill High School graduates and one current student, told Proconian. “Election results impact decisions about what resources students, teachers and staff have access to, who our building leaders are and how our education policies reflect our local values.”
Dasi, a school board member since 2015, hopes to improve the lives of teachers and employees through an increase in compensation. She also plans to “improve access to mental health resources” and strengthen student accountability systems, according to her website.
Fedders hopes to improve equity by “expand[ing] and enhanc[ing] our restorative justice practices, which improve student behavior and school climate and minimize lost instructional time,” according to her campaign website.
Fedders has also prioritized teacher retention and hopes the community can collaborate to ease the cost of living for the district’s teachers.
“We need to find ways other than salary to incentivize longevity in teaching,” she said. “Let’s collaborate with town officials on new housing initiatives so our staff can afford to live in the district they serve.”
Ballew, a graduate of Chapel Hill High School and a parent to students in the district, said she plans to address issues regarding “increased support and individualization for students with disabilities,” as well as “social-emotional development” for all students, according to her website.
Ballew also hopes to “forge deeper” connections between the district and local universities, close the racial opportunity gap and increase “resources and benefits” for faculty and staff.
“I am honored and grateful to have the opportunity to give back to the district and community,” she told Proconian.
Fornville—like Ballew, a graduate of Chapel Hill High School—said that her main priorities were increasing community engagement, highlighting holistic student achievement and student wellness.
“I would like to see the continuation of mental wellness time in our schools. The need is growing for our students, staff and administrators [need] to have more time set aside for mental wellness,” she wrote on her website.
