Stafford School Board candidate Carol Huebner Medawar wore a campaign shirt at a recent school-sponsored bingo night.
- She was attending the late August event with her child who attends Stafford High School.
- Medawar is running for the George Washington District seat on the Stafford County School Board.
- The seat is currently held by Dewayne McOsker who isn’t seeking reelection.
The school division prohibits campaigning on school grounds, and now the incident has sparked Board discussion about what qualifies as campaigning.
- “The complaint was reviewed by an attorney, and she said that does not violate the policy,” Superintendent Scott Kizner said at the school board meeting on Oct. 8.
But that didn’t stop the School Board from tasking its Governance Committee to review the school division’s policy on campaigning inside school buildings.
- “This is not to give someone an undo advantage or to harm somebody else, but we want the rules to be enforced across the board,” Rock Hill District supervisor Patricia Healy said at the Board meeting.
- “The committee met October 15, holding an open discussion on what campaigning is and isn’t,” Aquia District School Board member Irene Hollerback told Potomac Local.
- It’s seeking to make a uniform campaigning policy for all political candidates, not just those seeking a seat on the School Board, to show what is and isn’t allowed in schools.
- The committee asked Kizner to review school campaigning policies from surrounding jurisdictions, and then report back to it.
The school division already has a policy barring campaigning inside of schools, unless it is part of an event previously approved by the school division.
- Despite this, Hollerback said the committee needs to weigh in.
- “Everyone is interpreting the [current] policy the way they want to interpret it,” she told Potomac Local.
Huebner Medawar posted a similar photo to Facebook in 2015 that showed a campaign booth for her set up at a different SHS bingo night.
- “I really don’t have a comment on this, I think it’s ridiculous,” said Huebner Medawar.
Photo: Carol Huebner Medawar
