Darla Dillard
Darla Dillard was a candidate for District C representative on the Alexandria City School Board in Virginia. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[1] Darla Dillard lost the general election on November 3, 2015.
Elections
2015
Opposition
The Alexandria City School Board is a nine-member board elected by district to three-year terms. There are three districts on the board with three board members per district.[2] The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[3] The seats of all nine incumbents were up for election.[4]
Incumbents William Campbell and Karen Graf and challenger Harold Cardwell ran unopposed and won the three District A seats. District B incumbent Kelly Booz lost her seat after facing challengers Cindy Anderson, Mimi Goff, Margaret Lorber and Veronica Nolan. Anderson, Lorber and Nolan won the three District B seats. The District C race for three seats featured incumbents Ronnie Campbell, Patricia Hennig and Christopher Lewis and challengers Darla Dillard and Ramee Gentry. While Campbell and Lewis won re-election, Henning lost her seat to Gentry.
Results
| Alexandria City School Board, District C, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Christopher Lewis Incumbent |
25.4% | 2,808 |
| Ronnie Campbell Incumbent |
22.8% | 2,520 |
| Ramee Gentry |
17.5% | 1,938 |
| Darla Dillard | 17.2% | 1,910 |
| Patricia Hennig Incumbent | 17.2% | 1,900 |
| Total Votes | 11,076 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2015 November General", accessed November 3, 2015 | ||
Funding
Dillard reported $3,509.63 in contributions and $1,935.36 in expenditures to the Virginia State Board of Elections, which left her campaign with $1,574.27 on hand as of October 28, 2015.[5]
Endorsements
Dillard did not receive any official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Dillard participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ |
Reducing class size; Retaining and training our staff; Empowering our parents to get involved in their child's education. [6] |
” |
| —Darla Dillard, (2015), [7] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Virginia. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving college readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "They should not be implemented." | |
| "It depends." | |
| "If we cannot meet the needs of our students then yes." | |
| "No." | |
| "A gap in achievement means there is a gap in opportunities. Our job on the school board will be to ensure all of our students have access to the best education in order to reach mastery and achievement. This will begin with reducing class size and training our staff to give them the tools they need to reach each and every one of our students." | |
| "Expulsion should be used for serious offenses to ensure the safety of other students as well as the integrity of education at district schools." | |
| "Failing schools should not be tolerated. When I am on school board, I will do what is best for our children. Thus, the first step I will take is to look at the financial, human and programmatic resources the school is receiving to ensure the school has the ability to provide high-quality instruction. If not, then a reevaluation of the schools budget will need to take place. If they are then the school will need to be held accountable for it failing status. Constant monitoring of that school will take place until the school meets the needs of our students." | |
| "Yes." | |
| "All of the above except terminating their contract." | |
| "The parents that need to advocate for their children often lack the knowledge of how to advocate. I would work to educate parents on how to address needs for their children then, listen to them." |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Darla Dillard' 'Alexandria City Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia
- Alexandria City Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "List of Candidates," September 9, 2015
- ↑ Alexandria City Public Schools, "School Board," accessed September 17, 2015
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Alexandria City Public Schools, "School Board Members," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Darla Dillard's responses," September 28, 2015
