CHARLOTTESVILLE — While three seats are technically up for grabs on the Eastern Hancock County Community Schools School Board, only one has a contested race. That’s District 2 (non-partisan) where Johnna S. Bridges and Rosina (Rose) T. Metz are running against each other for the open seat vacated by Scott Johnson, who has been on the board since 2013.
Both women say they have a great love for the school district, the teachers, staff and kids and want to serve their community.
Bridges is already part of the Eastern Hancock schools community. A couple of years ago when she noticed there were no concessions available on a Saturday even though the parking lot was full for students and fans for multiple sporting events, she got busy. The next year, Bridges worked with school administrators and coaches to set up a concession stand to benefit the patrons and the school district.
“Not only did this raise funds for Eastern Hancock tennis, this also provided a better experience for our community and guests of Eastern Hancock as the host school,” Bridges said.
Leadership by example is what Bridges is about, she said. Bridges has worked two three-year terms with the Eastern Hancock Education Foundation (EHEF) and would now like to be part of the district’s school board since her term limits with the EHEF has run out.
“Working with the Education Foundation was really the start of it for me,” Bridges said. “When we first moved to the community in 2015, that was a great way for me to connect, interact and see what was going on, and I got to see a lot of the innerworkings and how schools really work, and I want to continue to work with the community and give back.”
It’s nearly the same for Metz, who also has a desire to serve the community and is hoping the community will give her a chance to be on the board to bring a parent’s perspective.
“My husband and I have four boys, who were all school-aged at the time when we moved here in 2021 right in the middle of COVID, and the kids were getting involved in school and sports, so I started attending the school board meetings to learn all the polices and found out I actually kind of enjoyed it,” Metz said.
Metz has continued to attend as many school board meetings as she can and noted when she found out Johnson was not going to run again, she thought it would be a good idea to toss her hat into the ring.
“I thought. ‘Why don’t I run for the school board since I go to the meetings anyway,’” Metz said. “I feel like it’s a great way to give back to the community and represent the parents in the community. We love this area and I believe, as a parent who has children in this school system, that I can offer that perspective to the board.”
Metz noted she feels like the administration and the school board have done a great job in leading the district, and she likes the direction the corporation is heading, but she wants to contribute and bring that parent view onboard.
“I definitely want to be a help to my community, and in my other career (animal medical field) I have the job of listening to concerns, and when those concerns come up I tend to be someone who listens and finds out what’s at the heart of it and if it is something that we need to fix,” Metz said. “I think I can contribute to the school board as well as the community.”
As for the other two open seats, James R Jackson Jr. is running unopposed in District 3 (non-partisan) and Steve Brock is running unopposed for the at-large (non-partisan) position.
