Voters to fill 6 supervisor, school board seats in fall

Six seats are on the ballot in three of Nelson County’s five districts in the November election.

In the North, Central and East Districts, the seats on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors and the seats on the Nelson County School Board will be open again.

In the North District, Thomas Harvey, of Afton, is running unopposed for re-election to the Board of Supervisors.

For the Nelson County School Board, the current board representative for the North District, John Kirchner, has decided not to run again.

Kirchner has served on the Nelson County School Board for two terms, or a total of eight years.

“It’s time to let somebody else do it,” Kirchner said. “My job now takes me out of the county during the week and I’m just away and out of touch.”

Kirchner said there’s nothing about the job that is unpleasant and that he is proud that he helped select Roger Collins as the superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools.

“Nothing that I’ve been involved with in serving on the school board would I consider a burden or unpleasant,” he said. “There’s nothing really unpleasant about serving.”

Mary Silverthorn Cunningham, of Afton, is running for that seat.

Steven S. Patrick, of Nellysford, also filed to run for the seat, but he did not qualify to be on the ballot because he did not have enough signatures of registered voters in his district, said Jacqueline Clark, Nelson County’s registrar.

In the Central District, Connie Brennan, of Faber, is running for re-election to the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

Edwin D. Campbell II, of Roseland, is running as the Republican candidate against Brennan.

For the Nelson County School Board, the current board member for the Central District, Stu Armstrong, will not seek re-election. Armstrong could not be reached for comment.

In the East District, Allen Hale, of Shipman, is running unopposed for re-election to the Board of Supervisors.

For the Nelson County School Board, the current board member for the East District, Cindy LaChance, said she would not seek re-election.

“I will have served for eight years and I think that it’s time for someone else to step up,” LaChance said. “My children are graduated or nearly graduated, so it’s time to move on.”

LaChance said she thought the division had improved during her tenure.

“I’m very pleased that during my time, we were able to keep class sizes small,” she said. “I’m glad we were able to get foreign language into the younger grades.”

Amy Clark Snap, of Schuyler, is running for the seat LaChance holds.

Barbara Wood, of Schuyler, also filed to run for the seat but did not qualify to be on the ballot because she did not have the required number of signatures, Clark said.

Clark said Wood and Patrick were both “very, very close” to having the required number of signatures and that they both still have the option of running as write-in candidates on the ballots in November.

Residents have until Oct. 5 to register to vote in the November election. For more information, call Jacqueline Clark at (434) 263-4068.