Irving, Young win seats on the Henrico School Board

Madison Irving and Ryan Young will join the Henrico County School Board after winning contested races in Three Chopt District and Fairfield District.

Irving won the three-way Three Chopt District school board race with 45.45% of the vote, while Young narrowly won the five-way Fairfield District school board race with 26.29% of the vote.

School board vice-chair and Varina District member Alicia Atkins was easily reelected in a two-way race. School board chair and Brookland District member Kristi Kinsella and Tuckahoe District school board member Marcie Shea both were reelected in uncontested races.

With Atkins, Irving, and Young all backed by the support of the Henrico Democrats, the school board will now have a majority of Democratic members.

Three Chopt race

Facing off in the Henrico School Board’s most partisan election, Irving, backed by the Henrico Democrats, overtook Eleina Espigh, endorsed by the Henrico GOP, and Kristen Vithoulkas, who is not connected to any party. Irving won with 45.45% of votes, while Espigh ended with 33.65% and Vithoulkas with 20.5%.

Irving is an economics and personal finance teacher at James River High School in Chesterfield County and formerly taught at Varina High School and Hermitage High School. When he launched his campaign, Irving said he wanted to continue to teach at James River if elected for the school board, saying it gives him invaluable insight on how school board decisions affect teachers and students.

During his campaign, Irving said some of his biggest priorities were addressing the critical teacher shortage by better recruiting and retaining staff, creating positive and inclusive school environments, and improving student outcomes by having smaller class sizes.

Espigh, a director of enterprise data at Capital One, focused her campaign on improving students’ academic performance following learning loss from COVID and addressing school bullying. She had previously criticized the school board in 2022 for imposing division-wide mask mandates.

Vithoulkas, a longtime volunteer in Henrico Schools and a retired auditor and accountant, described herself as an “independent” and “moderate voice.” She emphasized her priority to include both sides of the political spectrum when making decisions on the school board.

In a post on social media, Irving thanked his supporters and said he was "overcome with joy and peace."

"Folks, I am just completely overwhelmed with joy at what was accomplished. There are far too many people to thank individually - though I will try to if I haven't yet - but I just want to offer an enormous debt of gratitude to each and every one of you who supported this campaign," Irving wrote. "Together we will build a school district that works for everyone and one that can be the shining city on a hill for the rest of the state."

At the polls, many Three Chopt voters said they voted along party lines, voting Democrat or Republican all the way down the ballot. Several voters mentioned book banning as the top issue that brought them out to vote for the school board.

Kenya, the parent of a student at Deep Run High School, said that book bans were on her mind when she decided to vote for Irving.

“I’m not interested in changing access to books,” she said. “Just making sure that curriculum is inclusive and nothing’s restricted is pretty important.”

Kathi Harris, a school teacher, said she “highly supports” Irving and even canvassed for him.

“I’m just very much for inclusivity, making sure that all people are represented, even if they don’t look or think like you, that they still have a voice,” she said. “I don’t think that [Irving] stands for any type of banning of books. He wants all children to be represented.”

For Austin Rios, his decision to vote for Irving was informed mostly by his distaste for the Republican party.

“Republicans suck,” he said. “Democrats aren’t that great either but it is what it is, lesser of two evils.”

Fairfield race

Young won the school board’s most contested race with 26.29% of the vote, beating Terrell Pollard by less than 100 votes. Pollard ended with 25.84% of the vote, Tommie Jefferson with 19.93% of the vote, Crystal Varner Parker with 17.59% of the vote, and Keith Hicks with 9.55% of the vote.

All five candidates were backed by the Henrico Democrats.

Young is a consultant at CoStar Commercial Real Estate, a basketball coach at Henrico High School, and the director of the Chamberlayne Youth Basketball League. Young said his priorities would be to address the inequities between schools in the West End and schools in Eastern Henrico and to tackle learning loss brought on by COVID-19.

Pollard, the director of the Henrico Too Smart 2 Start Coalition and the Fairfield District representative on Henrico’s Board of Zoning appeals, had received endorsements from Atkins, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor and Henrico County Sheriff Alisa Gregory.

Jefferson is a driving school teacher and Army veteran. Parker is a Presbyterian minister and former financial educator and Hicks is a long-term substitute and student intervention liaison.

In a statement following his win, Young thanked the Fairfield community for their support and said he would work to deliver a "world class education, a safe and secure learning environment and community-connected schools."

"Thank you Fairfield!!! As a true son of the Fairfield District, I am honored and humbled to be your next school board representative," Young wrote. "It has been my love for my community, my commitment to our youth and compassion for others that led me to run and that will continue to drive me as your school board representative. I'm ready to get to work and make Fairfield schools a shining star in Henrico County."

For many Fairfield voters, choosing a school board candidate came down to who they felt was most a part of their community.

Jasmine, a former student at Fairfield schools, said she voted for Young because of his community ties.

“I really wanted to support the folks that I know on a community level – that my family knows and I just know that they support what we support,” she said.

An HCPS parent named Charity also supported Young because she felt that he was most aware of the needs of the community.

“It was really the fact that he went to Henrico High, he went to Wilder, he went to all the schools that my kids went to,” she said. “I was looking for a candidate who was part of this community, who’s gone to the schools in the Fairfield District. I just felt like he more understood the needs and the challenges that these schools face on this side of town.”

Another voter, Barry, stated similar reasons for voting for Young.

“He’s a family man. He worked here at [Henrico High], both my kids worked at this school,” he said. “I feel like he’s a local guy who understands the people here. So that’s the most important thing – that they have some type of contact with the community – and he does.”

Varina race

Atkins defeated newcomer Domonique Pervall by a landslide, with Atkins winning 72.81% of the vote and Pervall with 26.26%.

Atkins, who previously worked in healthcare administration, became the first Black woman to sit on the school board when she won her first term in 2019. She focused her campaign on her accomplishments since being elected and on her priorities of increasing parent and community engagement, empowering students and teachers, and ensuring equitable access to opportunities and extracurriculars.

Pervall, a project manager for US Electric Company, focused much of his campaign on his priority to further expand Henrico’s Workforce & Career Development program to more high school and middle school students. After serving time in prison, Pervall had worked to help other ex-inmates restore their voting rights.

Atkins thanked voters in a post on social media.

"My heart is overflowing with emotions that words alone cannot capture," she wrote. "Tears of gratitude stream down my cheeks as I write this post, Thank you everyone! We did it!"

Brookland and Tuckahoe members reelected

Kinsella and Shea both won uncontested races in Brookland District and Tuckahoe District, respectively, and will now serve their second terms on the board.

Kinsella, a small-business owner, and Shea, a former physics teacher at Douglas S. Freeman High School, were both elected in 2019.

In a post on social media, Kinsella thanked voters for coming out to support her.

“Thank you for continuing to support me and my service to our children, families, teachers, staff, and community in the Brookland District and across Henrico County,” she wrote.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.