VIRGINIA BEACH — School Board Vice Chairperson Kim Melnyk says she will seek a third term on the board, though this time she will be running to represent the newly created District 2.
Melnyk, first elected to represent the Princess Anne District in 2014, is a small business owner and former teacher who also volunteers with the schools and arts organizations. This past year, she unsuccessfully challenged state Del. Glenn Davis in the 84th House District.
Two other candidates are poised to run against Melnyk in an election year made complicated by the court-ordered new 10-district voting system and uncertainty about how that system impacts the board.
“I have dedicated my life to public education, and I think now more than ever we need School Board members who love public schools and will work hard to protect them,” Melnyk said during an interview on Wednesday, Feb. 23. “Right now, what’s most important is supporting the division in our efforts to rebuild from Covid and to continue to address the learning loss and get all of our students back on track.”
District 2 covers much of the main coverage area of The Independent News, and it is in some ways similar to the area covered by the former Princess Anne District.
The other known candidates are Alexis Gerdes and Amy Solares, both of whom have filed paperwork to run for the School Board in the new district, according to the Virginia Beach Department of Voter Registration & Elections.
There is still some uncertainty about changes to the election system this year following a judge’s order in December to implement the new 10-district system. The court decision that led to the change is being appealed by the city.
Changes have been especially complicated for the School Board because residences of its incumbents, unlike members of the City Council, were not considered when the new districts were drawn. Eight members of the 11-member board live in new districts with at least one other board member.
Melnyk and School Board Member Trenace Riggs reside within the new District 2. Riggs, a retired teacher elected to represent the Centerville District, has two years remaining on her term. She previously has told The Independent News she will not run against Melnyk in the new district.
Gerdes was born and raised in Virginia Beach, and she graduated Kellam High School in 2003 and earned a chemistry degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is part of a military family who lives in the Pungo area and has children in the city schools.
“It’s really important to me and their future that we have someone in office who can really relate to what’s going on,” Gerdes, a respiratory business specialist who works in pharmaceutical sales, said during a phone interview on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
“Overall, my main reason for running for school board is so my family and the community’s family has the best education possible,” she said “The school board right now seems really disconnected.”
Gerdes said she wants to foster improved communication between parents and educators and focus on issues such as school safety and making sure tax dollars are spent efficiently. “We are role models to our children, and, as a School Board member, I feel every one with that title should act like a role model,” she said.
Solares has a background in business and been a longtime volunteer with the local animal shelter and in fostering animals.
She was born and raised in the city, graduating Kempsville High School before leaving to earn her undergraduate degree at Florida State University and then graduating law school. She returned home and worked in a family business, and lived in Canada for three years before returning again to Virginia Beach . She lived in Thalia before moving to the Salem area.
“A couple years ago, we started really paying attention to what was going on in the schools,” said Solares, who also has children in district schools. “The masking was really what got me into the meetings. I had just had enough.”
Solares said she knows people who have had children who have had mental and emotional issues related to the quarantine. She wondered why city schools did not return to the classroom sooner when private schools did so, and statistics backed up the decisions for private schools to return.
“I started going to the meetings, and it was pretty much about the masking,” she said. “Take the masks off our kids. At least give us the option.”
She said she also has been concerned about issues such as critical race theory, saying “everybody should be treated the same” and expressing concern about divisive teachings. Critical race theory is a graduate school-level academic concept. Local officials have said it is not taught in city schools.
And Solares said she hopes to trim fat from the schools budget, prioritizing better compensation for teachers and staff.
“The teachers have been through a lot,” she said. “They have been through the wringer, just like the kids have.”
Melnyk, a graduate of Longwood University whose children attended city schools here, said public education has faced criticism over the past couple of years while dealing with extremely difficult issues, including the response to the pandemic.
“It’s just my goal to make sure people know how great our school system is and how fantastic our educators are,” she said.
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