School Board Member Leanetta McNealy has kept her District 4 seat, and Thomas Vu has beaten incumbent Diyonne McGraw for the District 2 seat, according to unofficial election results. 

Education consultant and former ACPS math teacher and data department employee Thomas Vu’s platform was built around a call for community engagement, transparency and a long-term plan. 

Vu told Mainstreet in a Q&A that he wanted to amend board policy to require hard votes on program changes, removing policies that “excessively delegate board powers to the superintendent.” He also said he wants a push for data-based program evaluation and decision-making. 

Vu, who was endorsed by School Board Member Sarah Rockwell, the Alachua County Education Association, North Central Florida Labor Council, Florida For All and the Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida, won with 53.86% of 33,919 votes. 

In a Facebook statement, Vu credited his campaign volunteers for the win. 

“I owe my election win tonight to all the volunteers who helped my campaign – those that canvassed with me, those that advocated for me, those that talked to their friends and neighbors, and those that have been advocating to bring real change to Alachua County Public Schools,” Vu wrote. “I look forward to doing the hard work – for the students, the teachers, and the families of Alachua County – when my term starts in November.”

McNealy, who won back her District 4 seat on Tuesday, has already served 12 years as a school board member and worked as an educator and administrator for ACPS for 35 years. 

Her priority list for her next term included teacher retention and recruitment, increased career and technical education (CTE) programs, improved behavior and completing project lists for the schools that need rebuilds and renovations. 

She named rezoning and the achievement gap between Black and white students as the top two issues facing the school board. 

“I’m happy to have won my election,” McNealy said in an interview. “It gives me knowledge that there are supporters who believe in my actions. 

McNealy said she wants the community to know that she will continue listening to parents and prioritizing students, ready to “roll up my sleeves and fight, and fight, and fight again.” 

McNealy won with 72.26% of the vote against her challenger, Lew Welge, who was a retired school guidance counselor who now accepts bookings as an Abraham Lincoln lookalike to bring “living history” to classrooms and events. 

McGraw, a real estate agent and owner of Successful Living II and III, ran on a platform of workforce development, transparency and improved reading skills. She was endorsed by Gainesville Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, House Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson, High Springs Commissioner Byron Williams, 4Ass: African American Accountability Alliance and others. 

McGraw was first elected to the school board in 2020, but in June 2021 Gov. Ron DeSantis removed her from the position for living a few hundred feet outside her district. When McGraw sued the governor to challenge her removal, a circuit court judge dismissed her claims.  

McGraw recaptured her seat in 2022, running on a platform based on vocational programming and mental and behavioral health support. 

In November 2023, the school board unanimously voted to make McGraw chairperson. 

McGraw still has three months left on the board and told her supporters on Tuesday that she will continue to do what she can to make a difference in the time she has left. She said she will not stop prioritizing children once she has left her school board seat. 

“The people have spoken. Evidently, they want to go in another direction… and I’m going to be okay,” McGraw said.