Three Chopt's school board race has seen it all; parents of Lucia Bremer speak out on gun safety
Happy Halloween and happy almost Election Day! Make sure to check out our election coverage to keep up with the many races going on in Henrico (ranging from school board to state senate).
This week, we did a deep dive into the Three Chopt school board race between GOP-endorsed Eleina Espigh, Democrat-backed Madison Irving, and self-described “moderate” Kristen Vithoulkas. We also covered the Henrico Democrats forum featuring all five Fairfield school board candidates.
At the latest school board meeting, the parents of Lucia Bremer, a 13-year-old Quioccasin Middle student shot and killed in 2021, spoke out in support of the school board’s legislative priorities on weapons safety. The school board also approved new leave donation policies for school staff and discussed the timeline for rebuilding the county’s older schools.
With Election Day coming up in less than a week, all eyes are on several key races in Henrico County – including the three-way race for the school board’s Three Chopt District seat.
Eleina Espigh, endorsed by the Henrico GOP; Madison Irving, backed by the Henrico Democrats; and Kristen Vithoulkas, who has no party connections, are ramping up their campaign efforts. As the most partisan school board race – other races are uncontested or are between candidates backed by the same party – the Three Chopt candidates have been under increased public attention – and scrutiny.
Along with several other school board races in Virginia, the Three Chopt race even has garnered some national media attention, which has spotlighted Espigh’s past comments to the school board during the pandemic.
The parents of Lucia Bremer, a 13-year-old student at Quioccasin Middle School who was shot and killed while walking home from school, made a public comment on Thursday supporting the Henrico School Board’s legislative priorities for school and student safety.
Jonathan and Meredith Bremer wrote to the school board’s public forum stating their “strong support” for the ‘Safe Schools and Student Wellness’ section of the board’s 2024 legislative priorities, which the board approved at a meeting Oct. 26. They specifically emphasized the item about promoting legislation to enhance the safe storage of weapons and parental accountability.
Lucia Bremer was fatally shot on March 26, 2021 by a 14-year-old student while walking back from the Mills E. Godwin High School soccer fields with her friend. Bremer suffered nine gunshot wounds and passed away later that day at a local hospital. Her killer, Dylan Williams – now 16 years old – used the gun of the 52-year-old man he was living with, Richard Pierce.
All five candidates for the Henrico School Board’s Fairfield District seat spoke at an Oct. 6 forum for Democratic school board candidates on issues including teacher shortages, book banning, and socioeconomic inequities.
Varina District school board member and vice-chair Alicia Atkins and Three Chopt District school board candidate Madison Irving also spoke at the event, which was hosted by the Henrico Democrats at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center.
While all school board candidates are required to run as independents, candidates still may campaign alongside political parties and receive party support and partisan funding.
Atkins, Irving and all five Fairfield candidates – Keith Hicks, Tommie Jefferson, Crystal Varner Parker, Terrell Pollard, and Ryan Young – said they opposed the Virginia Department of Education’s 2023 model policies regarding transgender students.
The Henrico County School Board will convene for a work session at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday to discuss a new sick leave bank for school employees, legislative priorities for 2024, and funding for several building projects.
The board will vote on whether to adopt new policies that would allow school employees to donate their accrued leave to another employee and create a new sick leave bank that employees could utilize for up to 30 days per year.
School board members will review plans for how funding from the county’s capital improvement plan will be allocated from the financial year 2024-2025 through 2033-2034. Plans include building several new elementary schools, expanding the ACE Centers at Hermitage High and Highland Springs High, and boosting funding for heating/air conditioning units and roofing replacement.
Happy spooky season from Trevvett Elementary! (Photo creds @trevvett_elem)
Halloween at Henrico High (@henricohsprincipal)
Freeman High has the golden ticket (@rmkeller73)
Thing 1 and Thing 2 at Three Chopt Elementary (@threechoptelementary)
Halloween hot dog at Hungary Creek Middle (@hungarycreekmshcps)
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