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 tol…