Deborah L. McDonough, 65, of Hayes, has announced her candidacy for the Gloucester County School Board to fulfill the remainder of former at-large school board member Kellie Lockerby’s unexpired term which ends Dec. 31, 2025.
“I know what teachers need,” said McDonough. “I know what kids need.”
McDonough retired from Newport News Public Schools at the end of last school year. She spent 20 years as a K-12 lead librarian and classroom teacher. She has experience teaching all grades, and has also taught collaborative special education classes and talented and gifted classes. She is a certified middle school language arts and social studies teacher. Her Virginia teaching license will not expire until 2033.
“I just really have a passion for teaching,” she said.
Prior to teaching, McDonough was a senior adult probation and parole officer for the Virginia Department of Corrections, where she worked closely with new officers and wrote curriculum for the training of new officers. She also supervised a caseload of high-risk probationers and parolees.
McDonough said she was going to wait a couple years to run for school board, but was inundated with messages encouraging her to run shortly after Lockerby’s resignation.
As a recently retired educator, McDonough said she knows the current struggles of school staff, especially with books. In her role as a librarian, McDonough said if a parent had concerns about a particular book or topic for their child, she could make a note on that student’s account to not allow that specific child to read that particular book or books on that topic.
McDonough said that this does not mean every student should be banned from reading that particular book or topic and that librarians work hard to find and fully vet good books. She said that parents should not be able to dictate to anyone else’s child.
One goal of McDonough’s is to encourage parents to be involved in their child’s education by participating in parent teacher association meetings, attending their child’s activities and reviewing their child’s grades on a regular basis.
“We want our parents to be involved,” she said.
Another issue McDonough has witnessed in recent years is that teachers are expected to do and be everything. School districts are losing a lot great teachers because of the unfair workload placed on them.
“We need to hang onto our teachers and listen to what they need from us,” said McDonough.
If elected, McDonough will strive to listen to different perspectives from other board members. “You don’t change things in a vacuum,” she said.
McDonough holds a Bachelor of Science in governmental administration with a minor in legal studies from Christopher Newport University. She has a Master of Arts in teaching from CNU, as well as a library and information science endorsement from Longwood University.
To keep up with her campaign, visit the Friends of Deborah McDonough Facebook page.
McDonough is one of three candidates in the special election for the remaining year of the at-large seat. Fred Brewer and Matthew Nash are also seeking the seat.