Three seats on the Portland Board of Public Education are up for election this fall. All three of the current board members holding those seats are running for re-election, and two of them have challengers for the seats.
The current school board Chair Sarah Thompson is running for re-election to her at-large seat. First elected in 2006, Thompson is a nursing student placement systems administrator at Maine Medical Center. Her challenger for that seat is Paul Okot, founder of the International Resource Center of Portland.
Jenna Vendil, a community organizer who has been on the school board since 2009, is running for re-election in District 1 against Josephine Okot, a social worker who is the chief leader of the South Sudan Acholi Community in Portland.
Holly Seeliger is running unopposed to keep her District 2 seat.