No incumbents on Nov. 2 ballot will return to Dublin school board as deSilva, Rigby and Gillis win seats

More than half the members of the Dublin City Schools Board of Education will be new when the board convenes in January.

Both incumbents on the Nov. 2 ballot lost: Rick Weininger and Lynn May, a four-term member who finished last in the eight-candidate field. The other incumbent, Stu Harris, did not seek reelection and instead ran for – and won – a spot on the Washington Township board of trustees.

Their replacements will be Tiffany deSilva, Lindsay Gillis and Diana Rigby.

According to unofficial results from the Franklin, Delaware and Union county boards of elections Nov. 2, deSilva led the field with 8,495 votes, followed by Rigby with 7,960 and Gillis with 7,290.

On the outside looking in were Cheri Striker (6,692 votes), Imran Malik (5,376), Weininger (3,486), Ted Sun (3,154) and May (3,142).

DeSilva, 45, said the choice of new board members indicated a desire by the community for “positive change” and perhaps a preference for “a fresh perspective” from members who have children in the district.

“I am a parent and volunteer in the district, too,” said deSilva, who has two daughters in high school and one daughter in middle school.

DeSilva said her early focus will be on increasing opportunities for public interaction, which could include town-hall style meetings apart from formal board meetings.

“I think the more we engage people, the less divisiveness there will be,” deSilva said.

Board meetings during the pandemic “were not ideal,” she said, with “emotional outbursts” related to COVID-19 protocols and the issue of critical race theory, but the more opportunity to discuss the issues, the more civil the discourse.

“The emotion, I think, comes mostly from people feeling that they are not being heard," deSilva said.

Rigby, 50, said she looks forward to collaborating with the new board members in the best interest of the district and its students, as well as listening to parents.

“We have passionate parents on both sides of the (COVID-19) vaccine and (mandated) mask issues,” Rigby said.

She said she does not think board meetings have been too contentious.

“Passion is a good thing, as long as there is decorum," she said. "It is important to have these discussions."

Rigby said her early focus will be on the recovery of in-person education students lost when public schools were closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

When asked what the choice of all new board members indicated, Rigby responded that the reason was “two-fold.”

“I think there was a desire for a change, and I think people recognized that when you sit on a school board without (your own) children in the district, you are at a disadvantage,” said Rigby, who has a freshman son at Jerome High School and two children who are graduates of Dublin City Schools.

Gillis, 35, called it an “honor” to be among the three women elected and one of the two women of color, along with deSilva, who will serve on the board.

She also lauded May for 16 years of “putting her heart and soul” into the district and opined the three new members were elected because “the community called for a change.”

Gillis said her focus will be on unity and “rebuilding the trust of the community,” which is necessary before the board can effectively address other issues.

That trust was lost, Gillis said, because parents and community members did not feel they were being heard.

“People are upset because no one was responding to them," she said. "We need more communication and transparency.”

Gillis said she will respond to parents and others who have questions or concerns about what students are experiencing in the classroom, including instruction and protocols, and she wants to increase the opportunities for residents to interact with the board.

As for the incumbents, May said she was not shocked by the results.

“I was not willing to run the race needed to win," she said. "For the first time, it was a partisan campaign, and I found that sad.

“I took the high road and did the right thing for me."

May said she refuted accusations during the campaign that the board did not listen to the community.

“We heard every word, but we couldn’t do what they wanted," she said. "They wanted it their way, but we had to do what was right.”

Weininger, a two-term incumbent, also said he “was not surprised at all” by the results.

“The community was looking to go in a different direction," he said. "I ran a nonpartisan campaign, (but) the residents decided that a partisan campaign was more important, (and) I’m fine with that.”

kcorvo@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekCorvo

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: No incumbents on Nov. 2 ballot will return to Dublin school board as deSilva, Rigby and Gillis win seats