NORFOLK, Va. — Results are still trickling in for Norfolk's school board races, and in Superwards 6 and 7, leaders have emerged as of Wednesday evening with provisional ballots outstanding.
Ward 5
Ken Paulson ran unopposed in a special election for the Superward 5 seat.
He served in the U.S. Army for 23 years, notably as the US Army Aviation School Deputy Director of Training and Doctrine. He then joined work at an airline after the Army, working in labor union activities.
In Norfolk, Paulson started as chief of election in Bayview, also serving as a member of the Norfolk Coastal Resource Management Board, Norfolk Erosion Control Board, and Civic League VP and President. He currently serves as the interim President of the Cottage Line Civic League, Chair of the Norfolk Wetlands Board, and Ward 5 Ambassador to the Norfolk Plan 2050 Committee.
He has said he wants to innovate student learning, fully accredit all schools by retaining high quality teachers, consolidate some schools in order to modernize them and strengthen accountability actions for "students who disrupt the learning environment with violent behaviors."
Superward 6
Sarah DiCalogero won the race for the school board Superward 6 race with 54% of the vote. Provisional ballots remain to be counted.
DiCalogero has lived in Norfolk for the past 25 years. She currently is an associate professor of mathematics at Tidewater Community College, but teaching wasn't her first career choice. After being stuck in Boston on 9/11, she said, she decided she wanted to do something more meaningful with her life, and found her way to teaching through Old Dominion University's Career Switchers program.
She taught math for Norfolk Public Schools and eventually TCC for over two decades. Her three daughters also all went through, or are currently enrolled in, the Norfolk Public Schools system. She was PTA president of her daughters' elementary and middle schools.
Superward 7
Alfreda Thomas won the race for the school board Superward 7 race with nearly 68% of the vote. Provisional ballots remain to be counted.
Thomas went to Granby High School and Tidewater Community College. She is currently a math tutor specialist and teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools system. She also ran for school board in 2018 but was not elected.
She's said some of her primary focuses will be on the well-being of teachers and ensuring there is adequate support for students who are falling behind because of unstable home lives.
