Orange County School Board members voiced their support for former member Chelsea Quintern and her family during the March 31 meeting as they fight the unthinkable.
Last month, Quintern, who represented District 4, resigned via letter, effective immediately. She cited her son’s health as the reason for her abrupt departure. Quintern’s son, 7, is undergoing treatment for cancer. He was diagnosed with lymphoma in late February which has since been discovered to be Burkitt’s Leukemia, a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
During Monday’s meeting, board members and superintendent Dr. Daniel Hornick donned “Joshua’s Fight is Our Fight” shirts.
“We’re wearing our shirts tonight,” District 2 board member Darlene Dawson said. “I want to publicly express my sincere appreciation and admiration to [Chelsea] for her time on the board. She’s courageous, a woman of courage and conviction. Love her or hate her, she stands for what she believes in and that I think has to be admired regardless of what side you choose to be on. The fact that she needed to step down for the reason that she did is just heartbreaking and so on a personal level all of my thoughts and prayers are with the Quintern family and with Joshua as he fights this fight.”
District 5 board member Sandy Harrington said Quintern had been integral in starting the board’s legislative committee that meets once per quarter. Harrington wished Quintern and her family the best.
“God bless you and your son,” she said.
The Quintern family has been sharing regular updates regarding Joshua on a Go Fund Me page as he receives treatment. For more information, or to donate to the fight, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-joshuas-fight-against-lymphoma.
The board is currently seeking a replacement to fill the remainder of Quintern’s term, which expires at the end of the year. Residents of District 4 are invited to submit letters of application for the board’s consideration. In their letters, residents should state their reasons for wanting to serve on the board and cite their qualifications for doing so. Applications are due to Laura Byram, clerk of the school board, via email, lbyram@ocss-va.org, by April 11.
The board will file a writ of election for the position, but Byram said it’s merely a formality as the seat is already on this November’s ballot.
