This is the leverage year

Save Chesapeake Schools.

Chesapeake has a rare opening to move from one school closure fight to citywide education reform. In 2026, voters can reshape the School Board, influence City Council budget priorities, and demand decisions based on evidence, transparency, and student outcomes.

Track every candidate Read the reform platform Candidate pledge application

Working frame: parent-led civic accountability, not party branding. Local school and council races are best won on records, numbers, and public commitments.

Election-year accountability

Lead with the concrete fact pattern. This is not abstract frustration. Ten citywide seats connected to school policy and school funding are in play.

School Board

Five of nine seats

Track incumbents, challengers, voting records, school closure positions, budget positions, candidate questionnaires, and public forum responses.

Seat / incumbent	Status
Kim A. Scott	Term expires 12/31/2026
Michael K. Lamonea	Term expires 12/31/2026
John M. McCormick	Term expires 12/31/2026
Amanda F. Quillin	Term expires 12/31/2026
Amanda G. Walker	Term expires 12/31/2026

City Council

Five council terms expire

City Council controls the broader fiscal environment. School reform must include capital planning, operating budget discipline, and public accountability for school-related city decisions.

Seat / incumbent	Status
C. Jeff Bunn	Term expires in 2026
E.R. “Jeff” Jefferies, Jr.	Term expires in 2026
Amanda L. Newins	Term expires in 2026
Ella P. Ward	Term expires in 2026
Daniel W. Whitaker	Term expires in 2026

Reform platform

Make this tight enough that candidates can answer yes/no, but broad enough to cover Norfolk Highlands, Deep Creek, South Norfolk, Western Branch, Great Bridge, Hickory, and Grassfield.

Transparent facilities decisionsNo closures, conversions, boundary changes, or major use changes without published alternatives, cost models, safety analysis, and receiving-school impact.

Neighborhood schools firstWalkability, community cohesion, transportation burden, and neighborhood growth must be weighted before moving children farther from home.

Student outcomes over opticsEvery major proposal should show likely effects on class size, attendance, staffing stability, proficiency, and student support.

Special education and safetyPreschoolers, students with IEPs/504s, mobility limits, fire drills, elevators, playground design, and bus logistics belong at the front of planning.

Teacher staffing truthPublish staffing vacancy, licensure, transfer, retention, and substitute-dependence data by school before reshuffling children or buildings.

Budget clarityShow operating costs, capital costs, deferred maintenance, debt, tax impacts, and opportunity costs in plain English before votes.

Candidate accountability center

This should become the highest-traffic page once filing stabilizes: factual profiles, questionnaire answers, votes, campaign finance, and public statements.

Questionnaire

Candidate pledge application

Ask every candidate to sign the same school reform agreement: Norfolk Highlands, school closures, FOIA, staffing, facilities, special education, and funding reform.

Open pledge page

Record

Votes and public statements

Track every relevant school board and council vote. Link directly to agendas, minutes, videos, budget documents, and candidate statements.

Money

Campaign finance tracker

List donors, spending, major PAC or organizational support, and whether candidates are taking money from entities with school or city business interests.

Public data room

The Save Norfolk Highlands model scales best as a citywide evidence library: documents, charts, FOIA requests, budget explainers, maps, and downloadable source files.

FOIA

Requests and responses

Publish each request, cost estimate, due date, response, and plain-English summary. Make government delay visible.

Facilities

Buildings and capacity

Track school age, acreage, elevators, playgrounds, enrollment, capacity definitions, maintenance needs, and CIP status.

Academics

Outcomes dashboard

Show school-level reading, math, attendance, discipline, enrollment, teacher staffing, and year-over-year trends.

“Do not ask parents to trust a plan that has not been modeled, documented, and defended in public.”

Take action

Give people jobs that do not require public speaking. The voter database, candidate tracker, source library, and meeting monitor can all be distributed.

Step 1Join the update listGet meeting alerts, candidate updates, FOIA releases, and action scripts.

Step 2Adopt a candidateOne volunteer tracks one candidate’s filings, public statements, and questionnaire response.

Step 3Adopt a schoolCollect enrollment, staffing, facilities, PTA, zoning, transportation, and achievement data for one school.

Step 4Turn data into votesConvert findings into flyers, social posts, candidate questions, public comments, and neighborhood conversations.