Ogden elects 2nd woman of color to school board in diverse district

OGDEN — Ogden has elected its second person of color to the school board in two years.

Stacy Bernal beat two-term incumbent Doug Barker, winning 65% of the vote, according to results as of Wednesday. Bernal joins Arlene Anderson, who in 2020 became the first Hispanic school board member elected in over a decade. Incumbent Amber Allred won Ogden's other open school board seat this year.

Bernal said although she worked hard to campaign and fundraise, a part of her was surprised when the election results started rolling in.

"I'm a first-time candidate and I'm a woman of color running against a man who is a two-term incumbent, and so I was told so many times this was gonna be really hard," said Bernal, who is half Filipino. "So being told multiple times by so many people that statistically my chances of winning were so low, I was kind of preparing myself for not winning. So when I saw the numbers, I think I was just so elated that not only was I in the lead, but it was a pretty good lead."

Bernal will be the only board member with children currently in the school district. She has developed a passion for advocating for neurodiverse children after navigating the special education system with her oldest son, who has autism. She is also finishing up a term on the Ogden Diversity Commission and created the advocacy group Awesome Autistic Ogden.

"I truly hope that I'm maybe bringing a different perspective and being the voice of the table that says, 'Are we thinking of everyone? Are we accidentally excluding certain people?' And also that includes our teachers," she said.

Opening doors

The Ogden School District is one of the most diverse in the state, with 50% of students identifying as Hispanic. People of color are vastly underrepresented in school boards across the state. A KSL.com investigation found that of the 236 school board positions in Utah, only 10 were held by people of color in 2022.

"As diverse as Ogden is, we should have more representation of diversity in all these places of leadership," Bernal said. "It is meaningful because it shows our younger people and our diverse community that we belong in these spaces. I was super excited for when it happened for Arlene, and I'm really excited that it's happened again."

Anderson said while she's enjoyed working with the current school board, she's also excited to see more women of color running and being elected.

"Even when I ran two years ago, it was hard because nobody represented our demographics in the Ogden School District," Anderson said. "We're starting to see a change, and change can be good. Having diverse members on the board brings diverse perspectives, brings understanding, brings inclusion and equity. We'll broaden how we see our students, which are diverse and come from different cultures, which is also important in education to better understand how we can help our students succeed and how we can help our parents engage."

She added that seeing more women and people of color run for office can open the doors for others to consider running for office.

"I think it'll show that, hey, if they can do it, I think I can do it," she said.

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