Teacher launches write-in school board campaign

An ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tor and child wel­fare advo­cate has filed as a write-in can­di­date for the Clark County Board of Education. Valerie Frost is chal­leng­ing incum­bent Ben Francis Dorsey in District 4. 

Dorsey, appoint­ed to the board in 2023, is up for elec­tion this year, but is fac­ing charges in a theft case that also involves anoth­er board member. 

Frost said she had already con­sid­ered seek­ing a seat on the school board at some point, but had not planned to run this year as a write-in. 

“The cur­rent cir­cum­stances have mere­ly prompt­ed a broad­er com­mu­ni­ty con­ver­sa­tion around lead­er­ship and pub­lic trust,” and has “pushed me” to get into the race, she said. 

“I believe that the vot­ers deserve a choice, and what I bring is the oppor­tu­ni­ty to vote for an expe­ri­enced edu­ca­tor and a par­ent with a pos­i­tive, dis­trict-wide vision,” she said. 

Frost has two fourth graders at Conkwright Elementary and a four-year-old who will be going into kindergarten. 

The candidate’s goals, she said, include explor­ing ways to make pre-kinder­garten more avail­able, afford­able, and ade­quate­ly fund­ed, and build­ing a school sys­tem that “fam­i­lies can trust” and that sup­ports edu­ca­tors to do their jobs well. 

“My pri­or­i­ties include trans­par­ent and fam­i­ly-cen­tered spe­cial edu­ca­tion process­es, mean­ing­ful fam­i­ly engage­ment, cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive and trau­ma-informed schools, depend­able after-school care, and expand­ing access to high-qual­i­ty preschool,” she said in a writ­ten statement. 

“I would make ear­ly learn­ing a seri­ous pol­i­cy pri­or­i­ty,” she remarked in an interview. 

Frost grew up in New Jersey and Kentucky and taught in Maryland and in Madison County before buy­ing a home in Clark County and mov­ing here in 2021. 

Around that time, she com­plet­ed a project for the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership with the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, and since then has done con­sult­ing, train­ing, and advo­ca­cy work. She estab­lished a non­prof­it, Change Collective, a par­ent-led civic effort in which fam­i­lies can share their expe­ri­ences and use them to advo­cate for accountability. 

Frost’s teach­ing expe­ri­ence has been in pre-school, kinder­garten, Head Start, and ele­men­tary school, and she is a cer­ti­fied ear­ly child­hood trainer. 

Her bachelor’s degree is in ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, and her master’s is in edu­ca­tion with an empha­sis on read­ing and literacy. 

“In my cur­rent role as a pro­fes­sion­al advo­cate, I still feel like a teacher. It’s more that I’m teach­ing adult learn­ers” about how to sup­port fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties, she said. 

“I real­ly want Clark County to be a dis­trict where edu­ca­tors feel sup­port­ed, where fam­i­lies are treat­ed as gen­uine part­ners, and where every child has what they need to learn and thrive,” she said. 

As a write-in can­di­date, Frost’s name will not be on the bal­lot. Voters will actu­al­ly have to write in her name in the appro­pri­ate place.