CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Albemarle County School Board appointed Leslie Pryor to its vacant Rio District seat with a 5-1 vote during its meeting Thursday, just over a month after the resignation of Jim Dillenbeck.

Pryor will return to the school board just over a year after Dillenbeck ousted her from the seat in last year’s election. She was originally appointed to the seat in January 2025 following the death of Chuck Pace a month earlier.

Pryor said she hopes her experience will help her as she returns to the board, but acknowledged the environment around ACPS is much different than it was a year ago.

“It’s a culture now where there are a lot of hurt feelings and different things,” Pryor told Cville Right Now. “And so, I just hope that I can help to restore some trust. It won’t be an overnight plan. This didn’t take place overnight, it won’t be fixed overnight.”

The lone dissenting vote was Chair and White Hall representative Rebecca Berlin, who prior to the vote, shared her support for Jennifer Ortuño, citing a need for new voices on the board.

“I appreciate Ms. Pryor’s service to the county and to the city, as well as the work that she did on the board,” Berlin said. “But I believe that we need new voices in front of us. So I support Jen Ortuño. She has children in the county, going to school currently. I feel like we need more people who are close to that work, and I also feel like we need some new voices.”

But the other five members cited Pryor’s experience, not just on the board but professionally with her background in juvenile justice, as reasons for backing her.

“I think that in this challenging environment, the stability that Ms. Pryor will bring with her background, with her experience as a mediator, with that experience in juvenile justice, with her experience with the folks in the Rio District already,” at-large member David Storm said. “I think all of those things will help this board get where it needs to go in the short term and through the rest of that term that’s available to her.”

In addition to her experience, Pryor will be the only African American member of the board. Rivanna representative Judy Le cited the importance of having “accurate representation to our school division students” when expressing her support, Pryor said she appreciated that comment from Le, and agreed with her “wholeheartedly.”

Pryor was selected over Ortuño, Albemarle County Public Schools Family Council’s co-rep for Albemarle High School, and Daisy Rojas, former co-chair of the Albemarle County School Board Long Range Planning Advisory Committee.

Dating back to when Pryor first applied for the open Rio seat in December 2024, this was her third time applying for a school board seat. She also submitted an application for the open at-large seat earlier this year, which was filled by Storm in September.

In her interview for this most recent opening, she said she wanted to build on her previous time on the board, but acknowledged that “much has changed” since she left at the end of last year, concluding an 11-month stint on the board.

“I feel that you are moving in the right direction,” Pryor said. “Be as transparent as you can and be able to provide clear and concise responses as to why you cannot provide more information. Be consistent in those responses. Utilize those who can support you as you seek to (rebuild) trust and be mindful that people are hurting and hurt people hurt others.”

Pryor’s reappointment puts her back in the seat she lost in an election one year ago, but she said she didn’t see a problem with that.

“For me, I think that goes to one’s character,” she said. “You know, sometimes people can be sore losers, but I try to have a more of a positive outlook, and I think for the individuals who worked with me for 11 months, they know my character.”

Pryor also said she “understood” Berlin’s comment about wanting a new voice.

The board chose its newest member at the beginning of open portion of Thursday’s meeting. While the open meeting was originally slated to begin at 6 p.m., the board did not reconvene from its closed session until 6:42 p.m., with Berlin stating the board had a number of items in closed session they needed to consider

This marks the fourth time in three years the Rio seat has changed hands, and due to Dillenbeck’s sudden resignation, the seat will be up for reelection again in Nov. 2027. Pryor will be sworn in within the next week.