No substitute for experience, WJCC school board chair says, promoting re-election

Good morning! Today we talk with school board chair Sarah Ortego about her campaign, plus a child abduction scare at Great Wolf Lodge.

Jul 17, 2025

pictures of Sarah otego campaigning — School candidate Sarah Ortego, left, campaining, right. (camp;aign photos)

To be effective on the school board, it helps to have experience, the chair of the Williamsburg-James City County school board said as she ramps up her re-election campaign.

Sarah G. Ortego, a Republican, held off announcing her campaign in the Jamestown District of the county until late April, saying she wanted to resolve some family demands. She said she has three school-aged children, “so there’s a lot to juggle.”

Her campaign Facebook page has not been updated, and she said her web page should go live soon.

Ortego gained attention during her first campaign in 2021 for attending school board meetings to raise alarms about a proposal to remove a section of the schools’ policy manual allowing citizens to weigh in on instructional materials. That proposal was subsequently quashed.

The issue surfaced during a time of public debate about the rights of parents to be involved in student instruction and student safety. At about the same time, former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe famously told a debate audience in Northern Virginia “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” That gaffe was credited with helping Republican Glenn Youngkin win the gubernatorial contest.

“People want results” from the schools, Ortego said. “They need to have a sense that it’s not getting more expensive every year with the same or perhaps worsening results.” The schools sought a double-digit increase in local tax contributions for the next school year, even though student population has remained flat.

Improving test results has been a focus of the school board, Ortego said. She said it was “not good enough” that the percentage of students passing the reading test remains flat at 85%. She said all students must be able to pass reading tests.

She said parents also want to make sure their children are safe in school, that discipline is fair, and that their children are being prepared for the future.

She said she would work to help the schools develop budget efficiencies while improving students’ results and closing achievement gaps between students of different races and income levels.

Ortego said her conversations with voters showed many don’t know what a school board does, or how it must work through a superintendent who runs the schools.

“They think one person can make something happen because it’s a good idea, or they have an agenda and think they can just push that through. And that’s not true; it takes a lot of collaboration, takes a lot of finesse,” she said.

She said she has the experience, after several years as vice chair and chair of the board, to help new Superintendent Daniel Keever.

Like her opponent, Stephen “Ty” Hodges, Ortego said she runs into retirees who don’t see why they should care about the schools since they have no children in class.

She said she reminds them that other people helped pay for their children’s education when they were in school and that schools are critical to a community’s success.

“A thriving public school system is the bedrock of a community,” Ortego said. “It’s what determines home values, attracts people who want to live here and contribute to the tax base, to have their business here. It’s one of the main things people look at.”

The third school board candidate, Democrat Kimberly M. Hundley, is running unopposed in the Powhatan District.

School board candidates do not have party labels on their ballots, but the Democrats are backing Hundley and Hodges while Republicans are working with Ortego.

Child abduction scare at Great Wolf Lodge

Travis Andrew Bright (photo from York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office)

Deputies arrested a North Carolina man who was staying at the Great Wolf Lodge Tuesday and charged him with trying to lure away a 7-year-old child from the swimming pool of the resort.

A spokesperson for the York County-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said 46-year-old Travis Andrew Bright of Greenville, NC, was charged with abduction and assault and battery. He was jailed at the Virginia Peninsula Regional jail.

Lodge staff and the child’s family told deputies Bright attempted to lure the child away from the pool at the Lodge, located on Rochambeau Drive. Bright stopped the child from leaving, but then left the pool area, the spokesperson added.

Authorities gave no further details about the incident, or the sex of the child.

Deputies reviewed video from the resort and identified the suspect as Bright, who was also staying at the Lodge.

graphics showing Rt. 134 closure and detour — VDOT graphic of closure, left and detour route, right. (VDOT graphics)

Northbound traffic on Route 134 (Hampton Highway) to southbound Route 17 in York County will be detoured as early as next Monday, July 21, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced.

The department will be rehabilitating the bridge over Route 17, a $5.1 million project expected to last until the end of 2026, a VDOT release said.

During the northbound closure, the on-ramp and bridge from Route 17 south to Route 134 will remain open to southbound traffic. Additionally, the northbound lane on Route 134 to Route 17 north will remain open. More details are available on VDOT’s website at this link.