SUFFOLK, Va. — More than half of Suffolk’s School Board seats are on the ballot in this upcoming November election.
Here are the candidates across those school board races, three of which are contested races comprising of seven candidates in their respective boroughs:
Chuckatuck
- Linda W. Bouchard
- Kim A. Slingluff
- Karima Hopkins-Lockwood
Cypress
- *Karen L. Jenkins
Holy Neck
- DawnMarie Brittingham
- Julpenia O. Hill
Suffolk
- J. Matt Shannon
- *Tyron D. Riddick
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For Linda Bouchard, it could be a return to a familiar role. Bouchard is a former school board member and parent of three Suffolk Public Schools graduates. She now wants to serve again after a years-long break.
“It was important to me at that time to work well with all. That’s not happening, and has not happened these last four years," she said.
She's taking on Karima Hopkins-Lockwood, a Suffolk mom with two students of her own still in the Suffolk Public Schools system.
“I think I can appeal to a more diverse crowd than my opponents; there’s a huge military and active duty and veteran community here, I have a perspective on challenges unique to military families," Hopkins-Lockwood said, noting her experience as a parent of a special needs child as well.
As Bouchard and Hopkins-Lockwood hope to win the Chuckatuck Borough seat, it won't be the first time the seat itself made headlines.
This past February parents, organizations, and even the Suffolk school division itself criticized Sherri Story -- the current Chuckatuck board member -- over what many considered a racially insensitive Facebook post.
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“She came onto the board in a very aggressive manner and made enemies. And that made her agenda impossible to achieve," Bouchard said.
Kim Slingluff, the third candidate vying for the Chuckatuck school board seat, did not respond to multiple inquiries from 13News Now to be a part of this story.
“The school system receives a little over a third of all of our tax dollars. So that’s a significant amount of money," Mayor Michael Duman said about the importance of the school board races.