Orange County Schools’ new superintendent did not attend the two board of education candidate forums last month—her role is apolitical, and she was busy getting used to running the district. But both nights, Danielle Jones’s name echoed around the Whitted Building in Hillsborough so much that she might as well have been sitting at the dais herself.
At the February 1 forum, candidate Michael Johnson invoked Jones in response to questions on the budget (“I will rely on the knowledge and expertise of Superintendent Jones”), multilingual support (“She has experience in reaching multilingual communities”), and competing with charter schools (“I look forward to working with Superintendent Jones”).
She “appears to be a rockstar,” Johnson added. And he wasn’t the only candidate who thought so: “I look forward to working with Dr. Jones towards safe, inclusive and excellent schools,” said incumbent Bonnie Hauser. “I look forward to being able to work with Dr. Jones and her team to bring an equity plan forward,” said candidate Cindy Shriner. “I’m looking forward to Dr. Jones developing a plan of how we can make STEM access more equitable,” said incumbent Carrie Doyle.
In North Carolina, where schools are severely underfunded at the state level, the superintendent and school board are key to maintaining quality education in the state’s 197 school districts. Lately, Orange County Schools has been trying to staunch the flow of students to charter or private schools and of teachers to nearby districts or even to other careers.
Seven candidates are campaigning for three school board seats. But no matter which candidates get the most votes on March 5, the new superintendent, who started in February, already seems like a clear winner. The candidates—whether moderate or progressive, incumbent or challenger—have extolled her as the harbinger of a new era of solutions in Orange County.
Being appointed unanimously last year by the seven sitting board members was an impressive feat already. The last superintendent, Monique Felder, told The Assembly last year that “no veteran superintendent would ever apply for the superintendency here because of the dynamics of this district.” (Jones previously served as assistant superintendent at Durham Public Schools, and was selected from a pool of 26 applicants.)
Now Jones has to keep her new bosses happy. And that board of supervisors is subject to change at the whim of the voters of the politically mixed northern Orange County. “You have to ask yourself how hard it must be to be a superintendent who now works for seven people,” Hauser, a retired management consultant, said at the February 8 forum.
All three incumbents—Hauser, Doyle, and Jennifer Moore—are running to keep their seats, while conservative and progressive groups are each seeking to expand their blocs on the board. Topics up for discussion this year include the racial achievement gap, the “Parents Bill of Rights,” the definition of “equity,” crumbling facilities, and a $300 million education bond that county commissioners have already approved to go before voters in November. This is also the first election since the current board pushed out Felder in a behind-the-scenes process that members still haven’t explained.
Behind nearly all of the candidates are two PACs, both relatively new, that are shaping the dynamics of the election.
Orange County Schools juggernauts Susan and Stephen Halkiotis, both former board members, organized the moderate-to-conservative Friends of Orange County Schools PAC (or “FOCS,” per its PAC filing) in 2022. The Friends PAC represents a quiet alliance between newer fringe groups like Moms for Liberty and traditionalist education stalwarts like the Halkiotises, who have decades of Orange County School leadership under their belts. They’re united in their concern about the agenda of the progressive bloc, which has argued that social issues are inextricable from school issues.
Friends is backing Hauser, a registered Democrat, as well as newcomers Johnson and Shriner, who are both unaffiliated (the Orange County Republican Party recently tweeted its support for the two of them, however).
The more progressive Communities Supporting Orange County Schools, a PAC launched this year, is backing incumbents Doyle and Moore as well as newcomer Wendy Padilla. All three are registered Democrats and have been endorsed by former Orange County Schools board member Hillary MacKenzie, who chaired the board’s socially progressive push from 2020-2021.
The seventh candidate, Kevin Alston Jr., also a Democrat, didn’t receive either group’s endorsement, but emerged as a charismatic progressive voice at the forums.
The Friends slate has emphasized assessing programs based on data: “How can I say this in a PC way?” said Johnson at the February 8 forum. “Anything that isn’t raising student performance needs to be looked at, it’s got to go.” To progressives, that language sounds like a promise to ax equity-focused programs. To conservatives, it sounds like a return to what school boards should do—look at the numbers to promote the best student outcomes. Friends has leaned into that narrative this year, including distributing flyers that read “CHOOSE KIDS OVER POLITICS.”
That harkens back to Stephen Halkiotis’s comments from the last election—“There’s too much influence going on by too-far-right groups and too far-left groups,” he told the INDY in 2022. “So much attention has been paid to political ideologies of the far left, we have forgotten that the primary mission of a public school system is to educate children.” (The Halkiotises, along with Hauser, declined interview requests from the INDY this cycle. Johnson and Shriner did not respond to requests for comment.)
Doyle, who is a high school science teacher at Durham Public Schools, says that the recent rebound in district test scores show that her opponents are creating a false choice between equity policies and student performance.
“My read of the actual data available shows that we have been on the right track in turning around student achievement in OCS,” Doyle wrote in a message to INDY that she also shared on Facebook. “Our deliberate efforts to center our most vulnerable students – whether due to income, language, or other need – have served to not only improve their individual successes, but to improve our district overall.”
Both slates agree that the board needs to pay attention to the changing demographics of the schools. Overall enrollment is down, but the Hispanic population has grown to over 25 percent of enrolled students. Padilla, who is Hispanic, has pitched herself as a candidate who is able to effectively bridge gaps between the board and parents.
Progressives and moderates are also both aware of the legacies of racism haunting the district, the country, and the South. “We’ve made progress but there’s more to do to counter racial bias (structural and implicit),” Hauser, of the Friends slate, wrote in her Association of Educators questionnaire. “I regularly advocate for increased, equity-driven funding to schools based on their unique populations.”
One topic that drew different responses from the slates of candidates was North Carolina’s Senate Bill 49, or the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” a new law from the Republican state legislature that, among other provisions, bans curricula from including discussion of gender identity or sexuality for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. It also requires that schools notify parents if their child changes their pronouns at school.
The board members in Orange County’s other school district, covering Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the southern portion of the county, unanimously decided in January not to fully comply with the law. They argued that it could put LGBTQ+ students at risk by forcing schools to “out” the kids to their parents.
Last year, the Orange County Schools board unanimously decided to comply with the law in a way that would make minimal changes to the district’s already-existing policy to support LGBTQ+ and minority students. Those policies are among the most progressive in the state. At the February 1 forum, Hauser said it was a “nice balance.”
“If [students] don’t want to change their pronouns or names on their permanent school records, then nothing happens,” Hauser said.
Doyle and Moore also voiced their support for the board’s previous actions, while Shriner said she was worried about “putting our teachers and our administrators in the position of coming between a student and their parent.”
Johnson did not clarify whether he would make further changes, but said that “the goal of a school board should be to ensure that every child, regardless of their sexual orientation, receives a high quality of education.”
“These children do not deserve to be harassed or bullied,” Johnson said. But he went on to question why advocates were so concerned with that law in particular.
“To the people who claim to care so much about Black and Hispanic children—where is that same energy to address the fact that only 30 percent of Black children are proficient in reading and math?,” Johnson asked. “Only 30 percent of Hispanic children are proficient in reading and math. What if we saw that same energy go to supporting our children be successful instead of trying to find ways to get around the law?”
Padilla said the Parents’ Bill of Rights is “too restrictive,” and Alston agreed. “We also take an oath that says that we will stand on behalf of every student that walks through our school,” Alston said, garnering a small round of applause.
That round of applause for Alston, a progressive who is not running on the Communities slate, might be the sound of trouble for the slate if voters split their three votes among the four progressive candidates.
While the district’s current school board members have welcomed their new superintendent with open arms, some progressives still feel that Felder was doing just fine before she was shown the door.
In March 2023, the school board voted not to extend Felder’s contract past 2025. At the time, the INDY published a story describing Felder as “ousted.” An attorney for the school board objected to the word, and INDY issued a clarifying amendment. Four months later, Felder was, in fact, ousted. Then, Lee Williams II, the district’s chief equity officer, departed the district in January. Williams did not respond to INDY’s request for an interview.
For many progressives in the district, including former school board member Hillary MacKenzie and her allies, Felder’s tenure marked a period of advancement for the district. In 2022, according to the NC Department of Public Instruction, students in nearly all of the district’s schools exceeded the state’s expectations for academic growth. That percentage was higher than any other district in the state. Graduation rates for Black students increased, and racial disparities in school discipline lessened dramatically. And Felder led the district in creating a comprehensive plan to address equity issues.
“Our deliberate efforts to center our most vulnerable students, whether due to income, language, or other need, have served to not only improve their individual successes, but to improve our district overall.”
Orange County Schools board member carrie doyle
“[Felder] came into the district and helped our district do something that we had not done. And then next thing you know…she’s gone,” said Alston on February 8.
While it’s not clear exactly how the board’s decision to buy out Felder’s contract—at the cost of over $200,000 in severance—came about, the four moderates on the board—Hauser, along with Anne Purcell, André Richmond, and Will Atherton who were all elected or reelected with backing from Friends of Orange County in 2022—are perceived to have orchestrated the severance.
MacKenzie said at the time that progressives should target Hauser this election cycle, and the Communities slate has been campaigning with that explicit intention. In return, the Friends slate has been targeting Communities-endorsed incumbent Jennifer Moore and newcomer Wendy Padilla. INDY has received written criticism of Moore and Padilla, calling out Moore’s absence at the February 13 Schley Grange forum and her early departure from the February 8 forum.
“I had to work Feb 8 as well as the Grange event,” Moore said in an email to INDY.
Padilla was criticized for not having children in the district—something she has in common with a majority of the seven candidates. She was also criticized for a lack of deep knowledge about the district, which she has pushed back on by noting that she is willing to learn.
“I’m able to walk into a space with no expectations. That gives me the ability to listen to everyone and gain understanding,” Padilla said at the February 1 forum.
Over the past several election cycles, the Orange County Schools board has gotten caught up in the nationwide culture wars, with protesters and Proud Boys descending on meetings to debate the confederate flag, masking, and LGBTQ+ books. Republican-affiliated Moms for Liberty has wielded a heavy hand in recruiting and supporting candidates.
This year, Moms for Liberty declined to make endorsements (although the Orange County chapter has posted supportive messages for the Friends slate on social media.) An extremist organization called New Group of Patriots, which is affiliated with Moms for Liberty, endorsed the Friends slate on its website (the group took the endorsement down at Hauser’s and others’ request, Hauser’s treasurer told the progressive publication Triangle BlogBlog).
Despite the air of rancor around the election, there are many basic points of unity between the seven candidates—like that teachers should get paid more. The candidates, especially those who have recently worked in Orange County Schools, also all want to see facilities upgraded.
“My office currently, right now, has mold in it…and that’s not something new,” said Alston on February 1. (Alston worked at Orange County Schools until earlier this year, when he moved to Durham Public Schools. Orange County Schools employees are not permitted to sit on the board.)
The Orange County Board of Commissioners have approved a $300 million bond referendum for the November ballot. If voters pass it, about $200 million would go to Orange County Schools and $100 million would go to CHCCS. All candidates have either expressed explicit support for the bond or indicated that they support “requesting additional funds” from the county commission.
By Orange County elections standards of late, everyone seems to be on better behavior. Jones, newly centered in the conversation, seems to have convinced all parties that she can forge a unified path forward.
“I think some of the politics have come from us,” said Hauser at the February 8 forum. “I really would like to see the superintendent get us all together—I think we all want the same thing. ”
At the February 19 school board meeting, the seven sitting members unanimously expressed support for the bond referendum. In a tearjerker of a ceremony, they also honored the champions of the Orange County Spelling Bee, and everyone smiled as the students walked around the dais and shook hands with each board member and Superintendent Jones.
It was a far cry from the days of protests and Proud Boys.
OCAE Questionnaires:
Candidate websites:
Editor’s note: The first reference to the school bond amount has been corrected to $300 million.
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].
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