Virginia Beach City Public Schools elections (2016)
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Five of the 11 seats on the Virginia Beach City Public Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. In the Kempsville District, incumbent Dan Edwards ran unopposed and won re-election to his seat. Rose Hall District incumbent Joel McDonald also won re-election by defeating Stephen Johnston. Trenace Riggs defeated Eric Wray to win the open seat in the Centerville District. Incumbent Beverly Anderson and Victoria Manning defeated Kristine Caalim, Ken Falkenstein, and Frances Knight Thompson for the two at-large seats up for election.[1]
Four candidates participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The Virginia Beach City school board consisted of eleven members that served staggered four-year terms. Three members were elected at large, and eight members are elected by district. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. Five seats, including two at-large seats, were up for election in 2016.[2]
The filing deadline for school board candidates to get on the ballot in this election was June 14, 2016. Candidates had to be residents of the state of Virginia for at least one year preceding the election and be registered to vote in order to qualify for candidacy.[2][3]
Candidates and results
Kempsville District
Results
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Kempsville District General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Dan Edwards Incumbent (unopposed) |
98.04% | 136,243 |
| Write-in votes | 1.96% | 2,718 |
| Total Votes | 138,961 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Candidates
Dan Edwards 
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Rose Hall District
Results
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Rose Hall District General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Joel McDonald Incumbent |
52.89% | 75,493 |
| Stephen Johnston | 46.29% | 66,075 |
| Write-in votes | 0.81% | 1,161 |
| Total Votes | 142,729 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Joel McDonald
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Stephen Johnston | ||
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Centerville District
Results
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Centerville District General Election, 4-year term, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Trenace Riggs |
53.71% | 77,491 |
| Eric Wray | 45.56% | 65,739 |
| Write-in votes | 0.73% | 1,055 |
| Total Votes | 144,285 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Trenace Riggs
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Eric Wray | ||
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At-large
Results
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Victoria Manning |
27.51% | 62,669 |
| Beverly Anderson Incumbent |
25.85% | 58,882 |
| Ken Falkenstein | 19.20% | 43,740 |
| Frances Knight Thompson | 17.71% | 40,345 |
| Kristine Caalim | 9.04% | 20,588 |
| Write-in votes | 0.68% | 1,559 |
| Total Votes | 227,783 | |
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 November General Official Results," accessed November 30, 2016 | ||
Candidates
| Beverly Anderson
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Kristine Caalim | Ken Falkenstein | |||
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| James Fry | Victoria Manning
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Frances Knight Thompson | |||
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Additional elections
- See also: Virginia elections, 2016
The Virginia Beach City school board election shared the ballot with federal elections for the United States President and the United States House of Representatives. Other elections on the ballot included municipal elections for mayor and city council.[4]
Key deadlines
The following dates are key deadlines for the Virginia Beach City school board elections in 2016:[5][6]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| June 14, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| October 17, 2016 | Last day to register to vote in the general election |
| October 17, 2016 | First campaign finance deadline |
| October 31, 2016 | Second compaign finance deadline |
| November 8, 2016 | Election Day |
| January 17, 2017 | Final campaign finance deadline |
Endorsements
Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Campaign finance
Candidates received a total of $45,883.78 and spent a total of $35,519.08 as of October 17, 2016, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.[7]
| Candidate | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kempsville District | |||
| Dan Edwards | $2,939.28 | $2,625.00 | $314.28 |
| Rose Hall District | |||
| Joel McDonald | $6,285.60 | $4,909.47 | $1,376.13 |
| Stephen Johnston | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Centerville District | |||
| Trenace Riggs | $10,270.13 | $5,642.71 | $4,627.42 |
| Eric Wray | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| At-large | |||
| Beverly Anderson | $5,354.31 | $4,397.73 | $956.58 |
| Kristine Caalim | $4,785.12 | $3,832.73 | $952.39 |
| Ken Falkenstein | $7,074.34 | $7,048.55 | $25.79 |
| James Fry | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Victoria Manning | $7,390.00 | $5,723.06 | $1,666.94 |
| Frances Knight Thompson | $1,785.00 | $1,339.83 | $445.17 |
Past elections
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What was at stake?
Candidate survey
Survey responses
Four candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from Beverly Anderson, Ken Falkenstein, Stephen Johnston, and Joel McDonald.
Hope to achieve
When asked what she hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Anderson stated:
| “ | I was a teacher for 36 years before being elected to the Board. My goal was to bring the perspective of a classroom teacher to the board and I have done a good job of that for the past four years. I want to continue to be an advocate for the students and teachers of our district.[8] | ” |
| —Beverly Anderson (October 14, 2016)[9] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Falkenstein stated:
| “ | I am the only dad in this race with kids in the Virginia Beach school system. There are none on the current school board. I am also the only attorney in the race. I want our kids to get a world-class education that prepares them for the demands of the real world and to compete in a global economy. The policies of the current school board do not accomplish these objectives. I also want to bring my firsthand experience as a special-needs dad to the board to ensure that all kids with special needs get the full range of services to which they are legally entitled. I am running to change the direction of the school board, which is currently under the control of the teacher's union (VBEA). The current board has eliminated instructional days from the school calendar, increased class sizes, approved budgets that allocate too much money to administration and not enough into classrooms, implemented a confusing and ineffective grading scheme in our elementary schools, and empowered the superintendent to eliminate student accountability from the middle school and high school grading systems. I will work to reverse these bad policies and restore excellence and accountability to our schools. The current school board is a rubber stamp for the administration. The incumbents seeking reelection have never - not one single time - ever voted against anything the superintendent wanted, including eliminating student accountability from the grading system and holding make-up instructional days on Saturdays rather than on teacher work-days. And they actually brag about having "only" five failing schools. The administration works for the school board, which has a duty to lead. I will represent the people and not the unelected bureaucrats in order to save our failing schools and restore excellence and accountability to our school system.[8] | ” |
| —Ken Falkenstein (October 10, 2016)[10] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Johnston stated:
| “ | Fix the falling education standards and lack of personal responsibility in Virginia Beach Public Schools. The website WalletHub.com recently had Virginia Beach Schools listed as the third best school district in the nation, today we are listed at nineteenth. The new grading changes take all personal responsibility and accountability away from the students. The School Board refuses to accept their Constitutional responsibility to supervise the schools in the district by passing control over to the administration. Virginia Beach Public Schools are headed in the wrong direction, we need to change course and get back ‘Ahead of the Curve’.[8] | ” |
| —Stephen Johnston (October 10, 2016)[11] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, McDonald stated:
| “ | People know that Virginia Beach has great schools and that they do great things for students. I believe that the school division is going to do even greater things. I want to help shape the future of a forward thinking school division. I want to ensure that Virginia Beach is a place where every student has the opportunity to succeed.[8] | ” |
| —Joel McDonald (October 18, 2016)[12] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were 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 their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
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| Issue | Anderson's ranking | Falkenstein's ranking | Johnston's ranking | McDonald's ranking |
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
- Beverly Anderson's survey responses
- Ken Falkenstein's survey responses
- Stephen Johnston's survey responses
- Joel McDonald's survey responses
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
About the district
Virginia Beach City Public Schools is located in southeastern Virginia in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach is an independent city and therefore does not belong to a county. This city was home to 452,745 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[13] The district was the fourth-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 70,556 students.[14]
Demographics
Virginia Beach underperformed compared to the state of Virginia as a whole in terms of higher education achievement in the years 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 33.5 percent of city residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 35.8 percent of state residents. The median household income in Virginia Beach was $67,001, compared to $64,792 for the state. The poverty rate was 8.3 percent in the city, while it was 11.8 percent for the entire state.[13]
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Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Virginia Beach City Public Schools' 'Virginia'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools | Virginia | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Virginian-Pilot, "11 people file to run for Virginia Beach School Board," June 15, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Virginia Beach City Public Schools, "School Board," accessed July 6, 2016
- ↑ Suffolk, Virginia, "Candidate Information," accessed July 6, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Beach, Virginia, "Elected Offices and Terms," July 6, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2016 Candidate Reporting Deadlines," accessed July 4, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Registration," accessed July 4, 2016
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed October 18, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Beverly Anderson's responses," October 14, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Ken Falkenstein's responses," October 10, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Stephen Johnston's responses," October 10, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Joel McDonald's responses," October 18, 2016
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 United States Census Bureau, "Quickfacts:Virginia Beach (city), Virginia," accessed July 6, 2016
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
- ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 9, 2015
