Katie Ricard tops Mariah White for 2nd District School Board seat

In the 2nd District School Board race, challenger Katie Ricard ended the night poised to claim the seat from incumbent Mariah White, with 61% of the vote after the first round of early voting was tallied.

Ricard spent the day greeting voters in her district, where there are a number of younger voters who may not have had much exposure to the race.

“And so when we met them today at the precincts, they just wanted to know what we stood for,” she said. “I just tried to emphasize that I’m an RPS parent, I’ve worked for 13 years in public education and I just feel really strongly about making sure all our kids and teachers have the resources they need to succeed, and that seemed to really resonate with our voters.” 

Ricard’s goals include continuing existing policy initiatives to combat chronic absenteeism, a focus on early literacy and work to retain and recruit quality teachers. She said she was excited to join a slate of candidates focused on good governance.

“I feel that through this campaign trail people, regardless of whether they have kids in the schools or not, want what's best for the children of Richmond, and they want good schools,” Ricard said. “They want a good school system, but they also want a collaborative and functioning school board. I hope to provide that.”