By Kipp Hanley

Published: May 6, 2008

There was a little drama during Tuesday’s elections in Manassas and all of it came from the School Board race.

In a very tight election for four spots, newcomer Kermit Holmes Dance tallied the fourth most votes to join winners Arthur P. Bushnell, Sheryl L. Bass and Scott M. Albrecht. Dance received 998 votes, 88 more than former School Board member Edward W. Pratt Jr. who was running again after losing in 2006.

The city council seats and mayoral races weren’t contested and there were just 88 write-in votes. Republicans Steven Smith, Jonathan Way and Mark Wolfe will start their four-year terms on council come July 1, as will the new mayor, Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II.

Wolfe, the chairman of the Manassas Ballet, is a newcomer to the council, while Smith and Way were incumbents. Parrish will take over for the outgoing mayor, Douglas S. Waldron, who chose not to run after serving from 2004-08.

Parrish is the son of Manassas legend Harry J. Parrish, who served as the mayor of both the town and city of Manassas before serving a distinguished career in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Dance said he was pleased with the outcome and said his hard work before the election made him very confident going into Tuesday. Dance said he knocked on more than 1,000 doors in the community and believed he had gained the voters’ confidence.

“I have a very good feel for the pulse of the community,” Dance said.

Dance, 57, said his 30 years of educational experience — including stints as assistant principal at both Osbourn High School and the former Jennie Dean Middle School — will blend nicely with the board’s business savvy. Incumbents Bushnell, Bass and Albrecht all work in the business sector.

“I think we can work together to bring about significant enhancement of the instructional process,” Dance said.

Nine percent, or 1,650, of the 18,338 registered voters turned out to vote on Tuesday, a number that was a bit less than usual, said Manassas Electoral Board chairman Jack Slimp, because of the uncontested elections.

Slimp has served on the board since 1997 and believes this was the first time there were uncontested elections in both the mayoral and city council races in the same year.