Stepping Into Power: A Stafford Member Shares Her Journey
December 17, 2025
December 17, 2025
A Stafford member shares her journey to School Board member, and why you should consider it too.
By Dawn Shelley
Have you thought about running for the school board? I was a middle school special education teacher and a single mom with no political experience. I ran and won three times. If I can do it, you can at least give it a try. This is my story. I hope you get inspired to run, too.
In the early 2000s, I attended my first school board meeting after a newspaper article that left me stunned. The superintendent of Spotsylvania County Public Schools announced he would add days to the instructional calendar because the food service provider lost money on snow days. There were many speakers at that board meeting, including me. The school board members stared right through me while I spoke. As I stood behind the podium speaking, my leg shook like a leaf from nerves. To the dismay of us speakers, the school board approved an extended instructional calendar.
As I continued to attend meetings, I spotted a pattern: most board members rarely questioned the superintendent. No matter the topic, they voted in agreement, while barely questioning the agenda item. I wondered—were they afraid to challenge him? Did they even care? I began to question: had they forgotten that the superintendent works for the board, not the other way around, so I became a regular at school board meetings and started speaking during public comment. I spoke about spending, staffing, the calendar, instruction, administrative salaries, and even athletics. Then in 2010, I witnessed something that sealed my decision to run for office. When he thought the cameras were off, Superintendent Jerry Hill turned a board member’s chair toward him and wagged his finger in her face, while no other board member said a word to him. Watching that display of disrespect, I knew it was time for me to run.
I was such a regular at the school board meetings that when I announced, the local newspaper, The Free Lance Star, printed, “Dawn Shelley, a Ni River Middle School special education teacher and frequent speaker at School Board meetings, tells me she’s seeking the School Board seat for the Chancellor District.”
I launched my first campaign for the Spotsylvania County School Board in 2011. I had no political experience, no consultants, and only three teammates (plus my 8th and 10th-grader): my colleagues from Ni River Middle School, Melissa Huffman, Peter Pfotenhauer, and Brandon Bangle. Melissa designed campaign literature, buttons, and t-shirts, while all three helped shape my speeches and pulled me back from more than one “ledge.”
Many people thought I had no chance. My opponent was a longtime administrator with name recognition. The Spotsylvania Education Association endorsed both of us. I knocked on thousands of doors. I spoke to people in the check-out lines of stores. I campaigned everywhere I went. I stayed non-partisan, even though I had a partisan endorsement. I won with 56 percent of the vote. The Free Lance Star printed, “Ni River Middle School teacher Dawn Shelley won the Chancellor District School Board seat over former administrator Mike Cotter.”
In 2015, I was re-elected without opposition, which felt like a gift. But 2019 was a battle. The local GOP was determined to defeat me and backed a challenger. He is now a member of the Virginia General Assembly. The campaign got dirty with GOP-funded mailers full of lies, and the full force of the Spotsylvania and Virginia GOP was campaigning for my opponent. Unlike my first race, I had no campaign team. The Spotsylvania Education Association was not active; therefore, I knocked on more than 2,000 doors—most of them on my own—because I knew what was at stake. (Door-knocking taught me that my opponent was not very well-liked in his own neighborhood, which in turn led his neighbors to volunteer to help me at the polls on election day.) I knew that if I lost, the anti–public school faction would gain the majority on the board and I was determined not to let that happen. Running without a party endorsement, I stayed true to a fully nonpartisan campaign and won again, this time with 54 percent of the vote.
During my twelve years on the Board, we achieved a great deal. Within my first six months, we appointed Dr. Scott Baker as superintendent. Under his leadership, and with a board committed to students and staff, we saw tremendous progress. All our schools became fully accredited. Graduation rates rose well above the state average. We celebrated a National Blue Ribbon School. Dr. Baker was named Regional Superintendent of the Year. For years, Spotsylvania was thriving. I loved that time on the board. As the only board member who was also a school employee, I knew what it was like to work in a school. I could be a knowing voice for school employees while serving my constituents and the students.
Throughout my time on the board, receiving adequate funding from the Board of Supervisors was a battle every year. If they didn’t complain that we wanted them to raise taxes, then certain citizens did. A couple of supervisors consistently voted against the schools and claimed the schools didn’t have needs.
Beginning in 2018, anti–public school candidates gained seats on the school board. By 2020, three such members held office; they felt emboldened. When COVID hit, tensions boiled over. Meetings grew chaotic. As chair in 2021, I had to clear the room after attendees became unruly, plexiglass barriers were torn down, and two board members suggested burning books.
In January 2022, the majority flipped. At their very first meeting, the new majority fired Dr. Baker. In that same meeting, they also violated FOIA laws by holding illegal closed sessions and stumbled through basic governance. Over the next year, they broke multiple Virginia laws, school board policies, and the Code of Ethics. They appointed an unqualified, non-educator superintendent, altered contracts illegally, lied to the VDOE, invented positions for their friends, and changed policies for partisan favor. Whenever possible, I went public – calling out misconduct from the dais, contacting our local paper, and/or contacting the DC news stations. I announced the illegal contract change from the dais and reported it to the Virginia State Police. The chairman was later arrested for the altered contract.
By 2023, the dysfunction deepened. The new board chair installed a kill switch to silence microphones—and used it most often on me. Although they had already taken away my vote with their majority, I’d always had my voice at the microphone. The new chair thought the kill switch would silence me, but it only made me louder. I spoke to the media more, and in turn, they reported more. And, it was a school board election year.
Early on in my third term, I decided that I would not run for a fourth term. I set my own term limit. Then, thankfully, with the help of a more active SEA and other pro-public education groups, the 2023 election restored a pro-public education majority to the Spotsylvania County School Board.
Looking back, my twelve years in office can be divided into two eras: years of progress and years of turmoil. But even in the worst moments, I knew why I was there—to stand up for students, staff, and the integrity of public education.
I may no longer sit on the board, but my commitment remains the same: to protect our public schools, the children they serve, and the employees who serve the students.
Dawn Shelley, a member of the Stafford Education Association, is a special education teacher at Hampton Oaks Elementary School. She was first elected to the Spotsylvania County School Board in November 2011, serving as board chair in 2015 and 2021 and vice chair in 2017, 2018, and 2020.
Virginia is a top 10 state in median household income, but ranks 36th in the US in state per pupil funding of K-12 education.
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