Dolly Joseph
Candidate for the School Board At-Large seat
I am running for the At Large School Board seat as a dedicated and creative educator who is deeply passionate about each child achieving his or her greatest potential.
I am a lifelong Albemarle County resident, who attended Red Hill, Walton, and Western Albemarle. My time at WAHS was challenging. While I had many experienced, enthusiastic teachers, and the intellect to do well, I moved from having modest success in high school to failing classes and then an entire grade. Eventually, I had to accept that I would not graduate with my class. Luckily, my story progresses happily from that disappointment. I arranged to enter Piedmont Virginia Community College without a diploma or GED. I loved college, and was successful and happy from my first semester on, eventually transferring to U.Va. and earning a BA, MT and PhD.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve been a Science and Language Arts teacher to 6th graders at Walker Upper Elementary School, the Technology Coordinator and Teacher for K-8 students at Peabody School, a private school serving gifted students, and the Program Director of Computers4Kids, an after-school program serving low-income Charlottesville and Albemarle youth. Currently, I work with 16-25 year olds through Building Experiences, a nonprofit I co-founded. My colleagues and I help young adults navigate school, work and life and set goals for themselves for the future.
My own educational experiences and those of the students I work with have had enormous influence on the values that I bring to my candidacy for school board. As a school board member, I would advocate for
- greater exposure to a variety of vocational and career pathways including an emphasis on entrepreneurship and local business needs,
- more partnerships with local businesses and non-profits to expand services that are provided to students, reduce redundancies, and expose students to a variety of adult role models,
- review of our technology policies and budgets to ensure that equipment, training and maintenance are receiving the appropriate funding and support,
- less emphasis on standardized testing and lobbying for testing policy changes at the state and federal level,
- more resources to help students successfully transition out of high school, whether it is to work, or two- or four-year college and better assessments of post high school outcomes,
- more joy in learning and teaching for students, teachers and staff.
I am confident in my ability to perform the duties of the School Board, including prioritizing budget items, approving curriculum and working with the other Board members and the Superintendent to ensure that we are providing successful and smoothly operating schools. My passion is facilitating learning environments that celebrate students and teachers as individuals, and prepare young people for their lives out of school. As your School Board representative, I will be dedicated to ensuring that our children of Albemarle County are confident, capable, and responsible community members. I hope that you will vote for me, Dolly Joseph, on Tuesday, November 3.
