Newcomers dominated school board races in Durham on Tuesday. A group of four candidates that was endorsed by the Durham Association of Educators, the People’s Alliance, and Durham for All achieved a clean sweep across the board.
In District 1, Natalie Bent Kitaif prevailed over Dilcy Burton and Davit Melikian with 68.7% of the vote.
With 61.3% of the vote, Nadeen Bir came out ahead of incumbent and school board chair Bettina Umstead as well as Rachel Waltz.
Gabrielle Rivero secured a relatively narrow victory in District 3, with 52.4% of the vote, against Lauren Sartain and Pete Crawford.
After a six-year hiatus, Xavier Cason will be returning to the school board in the District 4 seat. With 50.8% of the vote, he beat out fellow educators Kristy Moore and Jerome Leathers.
A dance teacher, and professor and a builder
Gabrielle Rivero, founder of a therapeutic dance company, edged out Lauren Sartain and Peter Crawford for the District 3 seat.
“This race was a hard one. We had three amazing candidates, all [of whom] cared so deeply about our kids and the school system…,” Rivero said at an election watch party at the Motorco Music Hall.
“It’s wonderful when your community surrounds you and supports you and tells you to keep going even when it’s hard.”
Rivero defeated Sartain, who has over a decade of experience consulting for public schools in Chicago and Wake County, and Crawford, an Army veteran and founder of a local start-up called Acre.
Earlier Tuesday afternoon, colorful yard signs –– and canvassers –– lined the road leading up to McMannen United Methodist Church, a polling station for District 3 voters.
Lauren Allen, a former school teacher with two young boys in tow, said she voted for Sartain due to her experience as a professor of education policy. As she spoke, one of her boys struggled to peel the backing off a “Future Voter” sticker.
“[Sartain]’s also a parent…and she lives this life everyday,” Allen said.
Meanwhile, another parent, a canvasser, successfully swayed Tyler Inge’s vote for Gabrielle Rivero.
“Hearing from…a parent just now was definitely powerful,” Inge said, gesturing at the canvasser. “Education is just so important, and to have repeated failures the way we have is unacceptable…a new voice can hopefully bring good change.”
‘Pay teachers like you pay athletes’
Natalie Bent Kitaif easily won the District 1 race against fellow Durham Public Schools graduates Dilcy Burton and Davit Melikian. Kitaif is a lifelong Durham resident and the mother of two daughters in a district elementary school.
At Motorco Music Hall, Kitaif said she was proud of the campaign’s success.
“There’s been so many people who have put so much work into this campaign,” Kitaif said, “and I think that in the world we’re living in, a movement that is powered by working class people is something worth paying attention to.”
In the afternoon, at American Legion Durham Post 7, Adrienne Sutton and Philistine Bryant emerged from the polling station smiling. Both had voted for Kitaif.
“Locally, for me, it’s about the schools,” Bryant said.
“Teachers need the top salaries…,” Sutton said. “Pay teachers like you pay athletes…[otherwise] they’re overworked and underpaid and stay stressed.”
A familiar face
One familiar face will return to Durham’s school board this year, as Xavier Cason takes the District 4 seat. Cason defeated Kristy Moore and Jerome Leathers, who are also former educators. He previously represented District B on the school board from 2016 to 2020.
Earlier in the day, outside a polling station at the district’s Staff Development Center, a woman in a folding chair offered green flyers featuring candidates endorsed by the People’s Alliance, including Cason –– and the three other school board candidates who prevailed Tuesday.
She had been out canvassing since 6:30 a.m., she said.
Nearby, a canvasser handed out push cards for Moore. This approach worked on some voters, including Betsy Sprouse.
Asked what ultimately influenced her vote for the school board, Sprouse looked down at the push card in her hands. “This little card,” she said.
Tanya Wan
