In the crowded race for School Board District 2, only one candidate was physically present at the Durham Senior Democrats’ candidate forum on Friday, Feb. 6 — Rachel Waltz.
Nadeen Bir was ill with a fever, sending Brigid Flaherty, her campaign manager, to speak in her place at the event held at the Stanford L. Warren Branch Library.
Bettina Umstead, the only incumbent running in the March 3 Durham Public Schools (DPS) school board election, was absent and did not send anyone from her campaign as a representative.
“I think that my presence as the only candidate running in District 2 underscores my commitment to delivering a DPS that is accountable to all of Durham,” Waltz said in an email after the event. “Our community’s seniors are a vital resource and we cannot afford to leave them on the sidelines.”
Working in local government
Waltz’ central message is that “Durham deserves better.” She emphasizes three building blocks: student achievement, meaningful engagement between parents and the school district, and building a system that is structured for student success.
Waltz also says her job experience working in local government sets her apart. She previously worked as manager of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness for Orange County Housing and Community Development, from 2021 to 2024.
Waltz currently works for a national nonprofit, Community Solutions, doing homeless systems improvement work with communities across the country. She moved to Durham in 2011 after receiving her master’s in social work at Columbia University in 2008. She is relying on personal appeals, as opposed to PAC endorsements, to mobilize voters.
“DPS friends and neighbors who know me, I will continue to be a progressive pragmatist. DPS community members who don’t yet know me, please reach out. You are essential to a thriving DPS that delivers for all students” she said via email.
“I am qualified to serve on the Durham County Board of Education because I know how to make fragmented departments work better together.”
In conversation, Waltz is matter of fact yet soft-spoken. A parent whose son attends E.K. Powe Elementary School, Waltz is advocacy chair for E.K. Powe’s PTA, and is a captain for Durham Public Schools Strong. She helped found Bike Durham, a local transportation advocacy group, in 2013.
Her work in Orange County taught her “on a really granular level how essential having good governance and good structures are to really drive accountability in systems where otherwise people could just be left to their own devices,” she said in an interview.
‘We don’t have a functioning school system’
A key problem that pushed Waltz to run for school board was the Durham Public Schools’ transportation crisis, when Durham Public Schools were short 30 bus drivers for their over 18,000 bus riders. The crisis left families scrambling for ways to get their children to school.
“We don’t work as a system when some folks can get to school, where wealthier white people like me can get to school, whereas other families can’t,” she said.
After this crisis, Waltz began talking to other parents and attending school board meetings.
“I saw that what we’re getting is really rooted in the way we don’t have a functioning school system,” she said. “We have a series of 57 loosely affiliated schools.” She began to notice a “broader lack of infrastructure, oversight, and accountability at the Board of Ed level.”
The budget crisis of 2023 and 2024 also caught her eye. In November 2023, then-superintendent Pascal Mubenga learned that DPS was $7 million over budget and could not afford raises that had been promised to school system workers. Mubenga, who has since resigned, informed board members Bettina Umstead and Natalie Beyer of the discrepancy in December 2023. The full board did not learn of the discrepancy until Jan. 11, 2024. The pay crisis angered workers, leading to a series of protests and school closures.
Waltz found that lack of board transparency particularly concerning.
“People should have stepped down from that decision if you honestly believe in the public trust and accountability and that the buck stops with our elected officials,” she said “We should have had board members step down.”
Waltz said the school system needs to “get back to the basics.” For her, that means improving teacher retention rates, student safety and student enrollment rates through greater oversight and transparency in decision-making.
Waltz has not received endorsements from the most influential PACs in Durham: The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People (which endorsed Umstead) and the People’s Alliance (which endorsed Bir).
“I think we need to have a real, honest conversation about what the role of our political action committees are because we continue to elect the candidates that are endorsed by those committees, but then we don’t see the change that folks are running on,” Waltz said.
As Waltz concluded her remarks at the February forum, she again noted the need for transparency and accountability. She paused before gesturing to the crowd, issuing a final call of action to the attendees. “We can do better by our students.”
Above: Photo of the candidate courtesy Durham County Board of Elections
fiona shuldiner
