Arlington’s new School Board chair is promising to work toward increasing academic outcomes and fiscal responsibility.
School Board members unanimously selected Miranda Turner as Board chair for 2026-27, succeeding Bethany Zecher Sutton.
“We should rigorously examine whether we are getting value out of every dollar,” Turner said.
“We should constantly be looking at return on investment” and “exercise the self-discipline” that county taxpayers must while doing their own budgeting, Turner said at the Board’s organizational meeting yesterday (Tuesday).
The new chair “has every necessary skill and capacity” to lead the body, Zecher Sutton said.
The outgoing chair noted that the five Board members hold different views on a variety of key issues, but she sees those differences as a virtue.
“We are stronger … because of the different approaches we take,” Zecher Sutton said.
Elected as vice chair was Kathleen Clark, who “has been a real asset to the School Board,” Turner said.
“I am very much looking forward to working together,” the new chair said. “I do think we will complement each other well.”
In her remarks, Turner said School Board members and the division’s staff leaders need to remember their main purpose.
“Our first priority is academic excellence,” she said.
Turner said community engagement is vital, pledging to “always welcome input and contributions from anyone and everyone involved in advancing our public schools for the benefit of our students.”
Families should be “genuinely treated as partners in their children’s/students’ learning,” she said, adding:
“Parents’ questions, insights and ideas are important. They deserve frequent and substantive communication from their children’s schools.”
Turner in November 2023 defeated James “Vell” Rives IV in the lone School Board race on that year’s ballot, winning 80% of the vote after securing the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s endorsement.
Two years before, Turner had lost the Democratic nominating caucus to Mary Kadera. Kadera won the general election and served a single term. She did not seek re-election in 2025.
Zecher Sutton has left the chair’s role but is running for re-election. She is facing Rives in November.
In a valedictory address, Zecher Sutton said the School Board had worked for the past year with “a dark cloud on us,” referring to being targeted by the Trump administration on a number of fronts.
“We must not waver,” Zecher Sutton said, saying the Board maintains “a consistent commitment to our mission and values.”
The outgoing chair said she was particularly proud that despite disagreements, Board members came together on 5-0 votes in support of the fiscal 2027 budget and updated capital improvement plan.
“We have all the key elements in place for another successful year,” she said.
Unlike the County Board, which rotates leadership on a calendar-year basis, the School Board holds its organizational meeting in early July at the start of the new fiscal year.
Typically, but not always, the post of chair rotates on a fiscal-year basis.
At the July 7 meeting, School Board members were joined by their County Board counterparts, along with County Manager Mark Schwartz and a number of former School Board members.
