At Williamsburg City Council candidate forum, fate of school system takes center stage
Education and affordable housing were among the issues discussed Wednesday during a City Council candidate forum sponsored by The League of Women Voters of Williamsburg and the York-James City-Williamsburg chapter of NAACP.
The event, held at Williamsburg Regional Library, featured the five candidates seeking to fill three seats up for election on Williamsburg City Council: incumbents Pat Dent and Barbara Ramsey and challengers Lindsay Barna, Fraser Hudgins and Ayanna Williams. Moderator Michael J. Fox, senior assistant to the president and secretary to the Board of Visitors at William & Mary, posed questions to the candidates on a range of topics, from the possibility of starting an independent school system to how to handle growth and what can be done about the housing crisis.
All of the candidates agreed they don’t want to see Williamsburg separate from James City County and build its own school division, though the current school contract between the two localities needs to be updated.
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Hudgins said his main concern with an independent school system would be the limited opportunities students in the city would have in extracurriculars like arts and athletics. Students would have “more access to resources in a larger school system,” he said. Hudgins said the costs associated with an independent system, both in monetary value and the well-being of students and teachers, is too great.
“We are going down the wrong road,” he said. “These kids have already been through enough with COVID … this is not a stable situation for our students, our teachers or our families.”
Brana said that the debate about whether Williamsburg should split from the county is “one of the biggest reasons I decided to run,” adding that she would like to see joint school system remain intact, though she feels the current school system “is not working.” She wants changes made to the joint system in order to have a school division in which “all the students’ needs are served.”
The candidates also discussed housing, both in terms of shortage and affordability. Ramsey and Dent both stated that the issue is not one that is exclusive to the city.
“We need to realize and recognize that housing is a crisis across the country and not one community can solve it,” Ramsey said.
Dent agreed. “This is much bigger than the city of Williamsburg,” he said, one that is difficult to resolve because “what some people consider affordable housing really isn’t affordable housing.”
Fox also asked candidates for their thoughts on capital projects, especially given the need to borrow funds to pay for them. Construction has been completed on a new fire station, while other projects underway include a new police station, a regional indoor sports complex on the grounds of the Colonial Williamsburg Visitors Center and a new library.
“We need to embrace them and make the best of them,” Brana said.
Dent noted that the projects, particularly the fire and police stations, are “necessities.”
As Williamsburg continues to grow, the candidates also all agreed that city officials need to be mindful of how development will impact areas such as traffic, parking, water consumption, safety, and natural resources and the environment.
“It’s a balancing act,” Hudgins said.
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