CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Albemarle County School Board is in the midst of the selection process for its vacant at-large seat, following the resignation of Allison Spillman last month.

There are 13 active candidates vying for the position, and 12 of them were interviewed last Thursday by the board in its public meeting. With a public hearing scheduled for this Thursday at 6:30 p.m., here’s what to know about the candidates.

Jimmy Belew

A parent and local business owner, Belew has made a name for himself as an outspoken advocate within the school division and often, a vocal critic of the board. He is currently engaged in a civil suit against ACPS, according to court records, and publicly supported the petition launched last month to remove Jack Jouett representative Kate Acuff. He intends to run for the board in 2027, but not for the at-large seat.

Belew did not address his lawsuit or involvement with the petition to remove Acuff during his interview. Instead, he focused on his own personal struggles as a student, and those of his children. He said he has seen how the school system can miss signs of struggling students, even with parent intervention, and it is one of the biggest reasons he’s applying for this open spot.

“It is time for a change,” he said. “I am not applying because I believe I have every answer. I don’t. I’m applying because I will ask questions. I will listen, and I will never forget, behind every policy, every report and every number is a child.”

Mandy Crombie

Crombie’s professional background is in the mental health field, and she currently works as a care coordinator for the Region Ten Community Services Board. From the time she and her family moved to Albemarle four years ago, Crombie has gotten involved in the schools, serving on the fundraising committee for Henley Middle School’s Parent and Teacher Support Organization (PaTSO). She has also worked as a substitute teacher at Henley and has served on ACPS’s Talent Development Advisory Committee.

In her interview, she told the board the greatest asset she can bring is “hope.”

“Specifically, the achievable hope that through listening and partnership, we can rebuild the rightful trust in our schools,” she said.

She added that she would not make a decision to run in 2027 until she could “gauge the community’s response to my service during the first year of filling the vacant seat.”

Heidi Gilman Bennett

Bennett is a familiar face in ACPS due to her involvement with the ACPS Family Council, where she served as an officer from 2022-26, including a stint as chair from 2023-25. She most recently gained notoriety for bringing forward accusations of sexual harassment toward ACPS Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Planning Dr. Patrick McLaughlin, who was placed on administrative leave one day later.

Despite recent scandals, including McLaughlin’s, rocking the district, Bennett said she sees this opening as an opportunity, and cited her reputation as “a voice of transparency” as a reason why she would make a good fit.

“I am seeking this appointment because right now is our opportunity to not only stabilize, to remain strong, but to also shift, to reform an outdated and broken system in our public school division, so that every student truly can thrive,” she said.

Bennett has a degree from Stanford in linguistics and education and a master’s degree in business administration from UC Berkeley. She plans to run for the seat in 2027 if selected.

Lucas Alexander Johnson

Johnson’s involvement in ACPS dates back to his time as a student. He graduated from Monticello High School in 2018, serving on the County Student Advisory Council as a junior and senior. During that time, he advocated for mental health resources in county high schools, leading to a $160,000 allocation to fund mental health professionals in the 2018-19 county budget.

He also wrote and proposed legislation mandating mental health education in public high school health classes, which Sen. Creigh Deeds and Del. Rob Bell sponsored and was ultimately passed as SB953 on March 19, 2018.

Now, Johnson is looking to join the school board to provide a unique perspective as a more recent graduate, while also acknowledging how much has changed even in the past eight years.

“The board in its current composition does not reflect students who have gone through this school district, even in recent years,” he said.

Steve Koleszar

Koleszar is no stranger to the school board, having served as the Scottsville representative from 1996-2019. He is now looking to rejoin the board as it looks to regain trust as well as pick a new superintendent. He also said in his interview he believed the board needs to review its policy for evaluating both the board and the superintendent, which he believes has “broken down” in recent years.

“I’ve been on this board for (24) years. I’ve hired two new superintendents. I’ve helped write board-superintendent policy, and therefore feel that I’m very qualified for that,” he said.

Koleszar believes he can be ready “day one” to tackle these issues. He is not planning on running in 2027.

Mike McDermott

McDermott moved to Albemarle with his wife from Omaha, Neb., four years ago. While he began his interview by acknowledging he lacked the “deep background” others had, he believed that was a positive.

“I don’t have the prejudices of the deep roots that some of these other folks you’re probably going to hear from tonight have,” he said. “What I do bring is large program management experience in the military. I bring neutrality and I think I bring objectivity.”

McDermott graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975 and spent 26 years in the U.S. Navy and spent 20 years as a program manager for a software development team after retirement. He said both background gave him experience working with people with diverse backgrounds and ways of thinking. He’s also served on multiple Service Academy Interview Boards both in Nebraska and Virginia. If selected, he does intend to run in 2027.

Leslie Pryor

Pryor, another former school board member, is vying for a seat less than a year after falling to Jim Dillenbeck in last year’s election for the Rio District seat. Pryor was appointed to the seat in January 2025, serving 11 months on the board. She told the board in her interview that she wanted to rejoin due to “unfinished business,” and cited her prior experience as a reason why she makes a strong candidate.

“I possess passion, commitment, competency and a desire to see all the best in all the children in Albemarle County,” she said.

Pryor’s professional background is as a correctional and probation officer in various localities around Virginia, including Charlottesville. She currently works in the City Manager’s office in Charlottesville as a Reentry Program Manager for Home to Hope.

Daisy Rojas

A graduate of Albemarle High School and parent of four children who all attended ACPS, Rojas has made an impact as a volunteer both inside and outside of ACPS. She is a founder of the organization “Families Helping Families,” helped start the PTO at Journey Middle School, serving as its president, and has also served as co-chair of the Albemarle County School Board Long Range Planning Advisory Committee, in addition to other committees she’s served on.

“I’ve had a lot of work I’ve done behind the scenes here,” she said. “No one voted for me, I didn’t get any donations. I just did it.”

Rojas has two degrees from UVA, including a master’s in education administration, and has published work in academic journals on a variety of subjects, including education.

Rojas said in her interview that for over seven years, she has been interested in working with the board. But it is only now, with her kids graduated from ACPS, that she is seeking a spot on the board.

Justin Shifflette

Shifflette was the only active candidate to not attend the interviews last week, although he is still listed as an active candidate on the school board’s website as of Wednesday. On his application, Shifflette wrote about his professional background in technology, mostly clinical AI, and about his time as a junior varsity soccer coach at Albemarle High School and president, coach and administrator of Cville United FC, a nonprofit youth soccer club.

With this background, Shifflette wrote he would bring a “practical, clear-eyed” view on Artificial Intelligence and how it could, and shouldn’t, be utilized in the division, and would also support programs outside of the school day that bring students value.

“I would rather help do the work than comment on it from the sidelines,” Shifflette wrote.

Lynsie Steele

As the mother of four current ACPS students and two future ones, Lynsie Steele has been involved in a number of local organizations both in and outside of the division. Steele served as the Area Director for Girls on the Run Central Virginia and Blue Ridge, serving girls from 3rd-8th grade while also developing site partnerships with ACPS schools.

“I know these buildings, not just recently,” she said in her interview. “I’ve been involved in many schools over the last 20 years.”

Steele has served as President of the PTO at Ivy Elementary and has volunteered her time at Henley Middle School and Western Albemarle High School, all schools her children currently attend. She’s also spent time as a cooking instructor for children at Mountaintop Montessori and has launched her own cooking camp out of her home, in addition to launching her own garden-to-table programming. If selected, she intends to run in 2027.

David Storm

Storm began his interview by stating he believes he is best positioned to help the school board “looming short-term priorities; hiring the best superintendent possible, as well as helping the board work through the additional serious challenges it currently faces.”

“I’m a strong candidate for the position because I bring a deep well-spring of experience serving the school division specifically and Albemarle County generally,” he said.

That experience includes time on the ACPS Long Range Planning Advisory Committee, the Albemarle County 5th & Avon Citizen Advisory Committee, and the Albemarle County Economic Development Authority. Storm has also served as a Senior Administrator at American University and as senior staff with UVA Athletics, in addition to working as an adjunct professor in the university’s School of Education & Human Development. He does not intend to run in 2027 at this time.

David Gilbert Tatman

During his forty-year career in the federal government, Tatman served in what he called “a wide variety of positions,” including, most notably, a six-year stint on the educational leadership team of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). Tatman highlighted this experience first and foremost in his interview with the school board, describing how he helped lead “a total turnaround in student outcomes. From institutionally wide failing performances to genuinely outstanding graduation results.”

“I firmly believe that my educational and governmental leadership experience can assist the school board’s mission,” he said.

Tatman said he does not know if he will run for the at-large seat in 2027 if selected but said he may consider it because he knows “making major improvements to a large academic organization is a complex and extended process. Not a brief TikTok show.”

William T. Woodrow

The founder and Principal at Charlottesville-based Woodrow Law Group, PLLC, Woodrow brings a professional background in law, public policy, business and organizational leadership. While not a professional educator, Woodrow said in his interview that his professional background would provide the board with “a unique perspective.”

“What I would bring is experience in governance, analysis and responsible management,” he said. “My north star as a board member would be to demand high expectations from the superintendent and the staff, and to support excellent teachers. I also feel deeply that outcomes improve when parents and teachers work together.”

Woodrow himself is the parent of three children who have all attended ACPS, the youngest of whom is currently a junior at Western Albemarle High School. If appointed, he said he is undecided on if he would run in 2027.