The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will be filled with some new faces next year. 

With four seats on the board up for elections this cycle, and a crowded field of 14 candidates, the only incumbent to win reelection was former board chair Rani Dasi. Newcomers Barbara Fedders, Meredith Ballew, and Vickie Feaster Fornville also won the most votes, ousting incumbents Deon Temne and Ashton Powell, in an election that saw about 26 percent voter turnout. 

Dasi and Fedders were both endorsed by the INDY.  

Dasi, who won just over 20 percent of the vote, has served on the board since 2015, as both former chair and vice chair. She has been a champion for higher pay for teachers and staff and has helped the board implement its five-year strategic plan. 

Fedders is a UNC-Chapel Hill Law School professor and director of the school’s Youth Justice Clinic, which works with law students to advocate on behalf of court-involved young people in need of resources and support. Her campaign centered on a vision for achievement that transcends test scores, and Fedders has strong ties to the LGBTQ+ community. She won with just over 19 percent of the vote. 

Meredith Ballew is a stay-at-home parent and former nonprofit professional as well as a Chapel Hill native and CHCCS alumna. Ballew ran on a platform advocating for more support for students with disabilities and received endorsements from outgoing Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger and Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman. Ballew secured 11.5 percent of the vote.

Vickie Feaster Fornville is also a Chapel Hill native and CHCCS alumna, and has worked in CHCCS as an employee and a volunteer. She was endorsed by the Triangle Blog Blog, which cited her proposal to add mid-day responsibilities to bus drivers’ schedules in order for the district to employ them as full time workers with benefits. Feaster Fornville won 9.33 percent of the vote. 

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