Alamance-Burlington school board members voted 6-0 Monday night to reelect Sandy Ellington-Graves to serve as their chairman for a fourth, one-year term and to elect school board member Dan Ingle as their new vice chairman.
Ingle succeeds former vice chairman Donna Westbrooks, who was not reelected to a second term on the school board in this year’s general election.
Ellington-Graves was originally elected to the school board in November 2020 and reelected to a second, four-year term on the school board in the November 5 general election.
In nominating Ellington-Graves to retain her post as chairman, Ingle said that she “has done an outstanding job as chair, [and] in adversity, has been a champion.”
Following no other nominations for chairman, school board members voted unanimously, 6-0, to reelect Ellington-Graves. (School board member Chuck Marsh was absent from the meeting due to illness.)
Meanwhile, prior to the board’s vote to reelect Ellington-Graves as chairman, newly-installed school board member Avery Wagoner, who was elected November 5, prematurely introduced a motion to nominate school board member Seneca Rogers to serve as vice chairman.
Rogers demurred, saying his time to help lead the board had not yet come.
Rogers was initially appointed in November 2023 to serve out the remaining term of former board member Patsy Simpson and was elected to a full, four-year term in the November 5 general election.
Rogers instead nominated Ingle for the vice chairmanship, pointing to Ingle’s previous service in elective office, as a state house representative and county commissioner.
“I feel my time of leadership may come in the future,” Rogers said, indicating that someone with Ingle’s experience would be beneficial in helping to “rebuild a lot of relationships in this next year.”
Wagoner subsequently withdrew his motion nominating Rogers at the suggestion of school board attorney Adam Mitchell of the Tharrington Smith law firm in Raleigh.
There were no other nominations, and school board members voted 6-0 to elect Ingle as their vice chairman.
School board members customarily vote to elect their chairman and vice chairman at the beginning of their December meeting each year. Terms of office are one year.
