Republican announces candidacy for Hipple's James City County board seat
Good start of the weekend! In today's edition: William & Mary declares solidarity with universities in Trump crosshairs, WJCC school chair says she will run for re-election.
Tracy Wainwright, an author and speaker who has lived in James City County 23 years, told Williamsburg Watch she will run for the Powhatan district board of supervisors seat being vacated by Michael J. Hipple.
The Cypress Point resident describes herself in her Instagram page as a “Jesus lover. Wife. Homeschooling mom. Author. Editor. Reader. Encourager”. Wainwright, a Republican, will be competing against Democrat Ti’juana Gholson.
Hipple announced in late February that he would not run for re-election after serving for more than a decade. His decision was a surprise to local Republicans, who scrambled to find a suitable replacement.
Wainwright said her platform would focus on responsible taxing and spending and advocate smart growth that takes into account the very different aspects of the county, from rural to suburban to New Town’s more urban feel.
Wainwright has self-published a dozen books, had one book traditionally published through Prism books, and is contracted for a nine-book series. She is also a motivational speaker.
Although she home schooled her children, she said she also believes public schools have an important role to play in educating children, because many parents have to work and don’t have time to home school.
Wainwright received an associate’s degree from the former Thomas Nelson Community College, now renamed Virginia Peninsula Community College. She transferred to the University of Virginia for a bachelor’s degree in psychology, then master’s in education and school counseling from William & Mary.
She said she was approached by the Republican party five weeks ago and agreed to run several weeks later, after extensive conversations with her family.
“My husband and children were all completely in favor and on board,” she told us.
Wainwright said she has already begun having door to door conversations with voters and is getting her publicity photos taken today.
“As I talk to people and ask what are your main concerns…. I’m getting pretty different answers depending on who I talk to,” she said.
She said she needs to spend more time getting into the nuts and bolts of the county budget and the budget of the Williamsburg-James City County schools, which account for nearly half of the county’s spending.
“There’s a lot of hard decisions coming up” about how the county should prioritize its spending, she said. “It’s not our money that we are working with…it’s the citizens’ money….sometimes you have to make hard decisions that aren’t fun and aren’t comfortable.”
Wainwright said she plans to do extensive door to door campaigning, as well as campaigning with other Republican candidates and speaking at events and gatherings.
W&M stands with universities challenging Trump administration demands
William & Mary became the latest university to throw its support behind universities in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
In her opening remarks to the board of visitors quarterly meeting Friday, University President Katherine A. Rowe declared the school’s support for “every institution of the Unites States that defends and upholds academic freedom.”
After initially scrambling to appease Trump, a growing number of universities have gone on the offensive in their support of Columbia University, Harvard University and other schools targeted by Trump for refusing his demands for sweeping changes in programs and hiring practices.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities has posted an open letter condemning federal overreach, signed by some 180 university presidents including those from the University of Virginia and Virginia Wesleyan Universities.
But Rowe did not sign the letter, saying “William & Mary speaks in our own voice. We strive scrupulously to be politically neutral, because that opens the widest space for true deliberation on our campus. That is what we are here to foster.”
The administration has cancelled or stopped more than $10 billion in funding to institutions of higher learning as it demands sweeping changes in how they operate.
Harvard University refused to comply with all the demands, suing the administration Monday. Harvard said the administration violated its constitutional rights and endangered its academic independence.
Trump responded by threatening Harvard’s tax-exempt status and its ability to enroll international students.
“It’s incumbent for each of us at William & Mary” to uphold the principles of academic freedom, Rowe, said, because “this is the institution in which they were first advanced” with the founding chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776.
Rowe quoted from the 1967 Supreme Court decision written by Justice William J. Brennan Jr. in Kyishian v. Board of Regents, when faculty members sued to overturn New York’s teacher loyalty laws and regulations.
In the opinion Brennan noted “scholarship cannot flourish in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die."
The Trump administration’s unpredictable final decision on research and other grants also cast a shadow over William & Mary’s 2026 budget plans Friday.
In presenting next year’s $595 million budget, the chair of the Committee on Financial affairs said he could not guess how the budget might be impacted by the administration’s decisions, or by the state government’s final budget for state colleges.
“Trying to create a budget at this point with all the hypothetical situations that could happen is beyond the bandwidth” of the group, said C. Michael Petters.
WJCC schools chair running for re-election
Williamsburg-James City County’s school board chair said Friday she intends to run for re-election in the Jamestown district this fall.
Sarah G. Ortego said she is going about the process of filling out the necessary paperwork to register with the county elections office.
Ty Hodges has already declared his candidacy for the seat.
Ortego said she had waited to make an announcement until she was comfortable some family demands would not pose an issue.
Her decision comes the same week that the county board of supervisors closed in on providing an extra $1 million in funding to the school system, by letting the schools keep some of their unused budget from this current fiscal year.
When we spoke, Ortego did not take credit for that development, which will allow the schools to begin the first phase of providing raises for staff.
“It was a team effort,” she said.
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Guest Opinion: James City County needs transparent zero based budgeting
Read our Opinion Section.
Government meetings next week:
Monday
York County School Board regular meeting. York Hall Board Room. 301 Main St., Yorktown. 7 p.m.
Williamsburg Public Art Council. Stryker Center Room 127, 412 N. Boundary St. 3:30 p.m.
Road closings next week
I-64, Gap Widening Segment C, James City County:
Single-lane closures on I-64 east from Old Stage Road (exit 227) to Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234) April 27-May 2 from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Single-lane closures on I-64 west from Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234) to Old Stage Road (exit 227) April 27-May 3 from as early as 7 p.m. to as late as 7 a.m.
Full closure of I-64 on- and off-ramps at Croaker Road (exit 231) April 27-May 3 from as early as 7 p.m. to as late as 7 a.m.
Brief, intermittent stoppages on East Rochambeau Drive from Mooretown Road to Oaktree Road April 28-May 2 from as early as 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Long-term, temporary traffic shift on I-64 west starting April 6 from east of Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234) to the New Kent/James City County line. View the full traffic alert.
Long-term, temporary traffic shift on I-64 east between the New Kent/James City County line to Route 199/Lightfoot (exit 234). View the full traffic alert.
Route 17, Newport News/York County:
Alternating, single-lane closures on Route 17 north from I-64 interchange to Route 134 April 27-May 1 from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Passings
Peter “Dude” Donnelly, 64, April 23.
Are faculty staff and students feeling threatened in any way at W&M? That statement is fine but Both Sidesism has gotten us where we are and I can’t help but wonder if ALL faculty staff students feel equally Safe on campus? Anyone willing to talk about it out loud? That may be the answer I’m looking for 👀