Re-Elect Sarah Ortego for School Board
“I am running for re-election to the School Board because I want to build on our success and continue the work to make WJCC a premier school division. It has been an honor to represent the citizens in the Jamestown District on the School Board for the last four years and to work on behalf of the school division as a whole.”
Sarah Ortego believes that public schools are the bedrock of our community and that it is critical to ensure every student has access to the highest quality education possible. The School Board plays a critical role in determining the quality of that education through the policies it approves, the budget priorities it sets, by providing ongoing oversight, and ultimately holding the superintendent accountable for real results. Sarah believes strongly that the education we provide our children shapes not only their future, but directly shapes both the future of our community in Williamsburg-James City County and our nation as a whole.
Sarah will remain laser-focused on academic achievement and career readiness, maintaining high academic standards for students across the division at every level and expanding access to career technical education and vocational training options. She believes everything the school division spends time and resources on should be tied to achieving this goal. Sarah led the WJCC strategic plan review and reorganization, placing academic achievement and career readiness as the #1 key priority of the school division, with all other efforts directly supporting that key priority.
Sarah believes in creating the best learning experience possible for students. This entails ensuring distraction- and disruption-free classrooms, and employing a variety of teaching strategies that engage the students fully in order to capture their attention and spark their creativity and curiosity. A child who loves learning at an early age will likely be a life-long learner, enhancing their own quality of life and that of those around them.
Experience Matters!
WJCC has undergone a great deal of change over the past 4 years. With an entirely new board since 2021 and new superintendent whose term officially began June 1st of this year, it is extremely important to retain the experience, institutional knowledge, and critical relationships with a variety of stakeholders that Sarah brings to the table.
“We have come a long way from the dark days of the pandemic and school closures. Not only have we worked hard to recover from the pandemic-induced learning loss, but we have also targeted achievement gaps in our system that existed before the pandemic. But there is still a lot of work to do!”
As a mom of 3 children and a taxpayer in this community, it is important to Sarah that the school board makes student-centered, academically focused, fiscally responsible decisions that affect not only the day to day lives of students and their families, but will also have repercussions for the Williamsburg-James City County for years to come.
There are many challenges facing our students now that need to be addressed in a comprehensive and strategic way. Our School Board needs leaders who will ask tough questions, encourage creative solutions to complex problems, are willing to listen to the needs of students, teachers and staff, as well as the families they represent, and communicate effectively with all of their constituents. Sarah has already proven her ability to do just that.
Understanding Who I Serve
“As a School Board member, I serve the students, teachers and staff, families, and the community as a whole.”
Students come to school to learn. Every student deserves the 1.) opportunity, 2.) resources, 3.) support, and 4.) safety to achieve their individual highest potential. It is the School Board’s duty to ensure that these four things are provided to each student.
It is Sarah’s desire to see test scores and literacy rates consistently trend upward. Every graduate should be able to walk across the stage with actionable next steps toward their future success, whether that is acceptance to a 2- or 4-year degree program, vocational training, a paid job, enlistment in the military or something else they have chosen that will advance their career. That would demonstrate the true success of the school division.
Teachers come to school to teach. Teachers are highly educated, highly skilled, hard-working professionals who deserve the respect of their students, their peers and administrators, families, and of the community. One of the best ways to demonstrate that is by ensuring they are compensated commensurately. Sarah already demonstrated this support by voting for teacher pay raises every year and to implement phase one of a multi-year plan for a salary scale adjustment. Sarah’s goal is for WJCC to become first in the region for teacher pay.
An additional way to support teachers is by adding support staff who can alleviate some of the peripheral tasks of classroom management, especially at the elementary level. Overall, elementary students struggle to adjust to the classroom setting more than they did pre-pandemic and that remains a considerable focus of the School Board. Sarah is in support of hiring more support staff to assist in the teaching and learning experience and enhance the safety and discipline in our schools.
Parents/Families send their children to school with the expectation that they will be safe, well-cared for, and that they will learn each and every day. Families want to trust that they know what their children are learning and that it affords them the best possible opportunity for future success. Families should feel welcome in our schools and feel heard when they express a concern. This is achieved through open and transparent communication. Ideally, the parent-teacher relationship should be a partnership with the shared goal of student success.
The community plays a critical role in the success of our school division. James City County taxpayers fund the majority of the school budget, and they do significantly above the minimum required by law. This is an incredible gift to our students and has allowed for the many of the division’s successes thus far. Sarah wants all James City County residents to feel invested in the success of our schools and proud of the results they achieve. This can be done by strengthening existing community partnerships and creating new ones, by communicating effectively our challenges and accomplishments, and by producing real results year over year, which demonstrate that our tax dollars are a worthwhile investment. A thriving, high-achieving school division pays dividends across the board, as it can impact home values, quality of life, and commercial and residential development.
