Arlington Democrats now have two candidates vying for an open School Board seat.
Monique “Moe” Bryant and June Prakash formally kicked off campaigns Wednesday night (Feb. 5) at the monthly Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting.
Perhaps appropriately, the forum was held at a public school: Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary in the Green Valley community.
Bryant, Prakash and any other candidates who might emerge by the Feb. 28 filing deadline will square off in a Democratic School Board caucus to be held in the spring. The winner moves to the Nov. 4 general election.
Incumbent Board member (and current chair) Mary Kadera announced in early January she would not seek a second four-year term. Hers is the only seat on the 2025 ballot.
Prakash is president of the Arlington Education Association, the union for Arlington Public Schools educators, and a former PTA president. She told Democrats that while the current School Board has dedicated members, “what is missing is someone who’s actually been in the classroom.”
“I didn’t come out of nowhere. I’ve been quietly doing the work,” said Prakash, who said she understands school operations “inside and out.”
Prakash became Arlington Education Association president in the wake of a financial scandal that rocked the organization. Under her leadership, AEA last year signed a collective-bargaining agreement with the county school system.
Bryant is executive director of Challenging Racism, a training and advocacy group.
“Every voice, every community in Arlington is valuable,” she told Arlington Democrats, promising to be one “elevating voices we don’t often hear from.”
Given Arlington’s political inclinations, winning the Democratic School Board caucus typically is a required precursor to gaining office. No non-Democrat has served on the body since 2007.
The Democratic caucus will be held in a hybrid format, with online voting April 19 to May 10 and in-person voting May 4 (Washington-Liberty High School) and May 10 (Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary).
If more than two candidates qualify for the ballot, the caucus will be conducted under a ranked-choice format.
Arlington’s School Board has seen frequent turnover in recent years. Kadera will be departing after just a single term, as last December did Cristina Diaz-Torres and David Priddy. Several other previous board members lasted just a single term, including Monique O’Grady and Tannia Talento.
For non-Democrats planning to run for Kadera’s seat, the filing deadline for the general election is mid-June.
Del. Hope Picks Up Challenger: Del. Patrick Hope (D-1) on Wednesday night (Feb. 5) picked up an intra-party challenge.
Arjoon Srikanth, a Ballston resident and software engineer, announced plans to run in the June 17 primary.
Hope has served the community well, Srikanth said, but “we need a different kind of leadership.”
Srikanth is the son of immigrants from India who met during college in Georgia.
“I’m doing this for my family and all those like them,” he said. “I will never be above this community. I will be of this community. Arlington is my chosen home.”
The 1st House District includes most of north-central and northwestern Arlington. It is a reliably Democratic stronghold.
During his kickoff, Srikanth said that, if elected, he would promote housing opportunities and support aging-in-place initiatives. He also said he would “fight to introduce home rule” to give Virginia localities more autonomy.
Hope, an attorney in the health-care arena, has been a member of the House of Delegates since 2010 and currently chairs the House Committee on Courts of Justice.
Like all members of the Arlington delegation — three in the House of Delegates and two in the Virginia Senate — he currently is in Richmond for the legislature’s 45-day session.
