Three Board of Public Education seats were up for election on Nov. 5: an at-large seat and the District 1 and 2 seats. Newcomers to elected office, Maya Lena and Abdulkadir Ali, who prefers to be known as Ali Ali, won the at-large and District 2 seats, respectively. Incumbent Abusana “Micky” Bondo, the current Board vice chair, was re-elected to her District 1 seat.

Only the at-large seat, currently held by Board member Nyalat Biliew, who did not seek re-election, was contested on the ballot. In the race for that at-large seat, Lena bested John Rousseau, who also was new to Portland politics.

Lena, a substitute teacher, artist and PPS parent, won 21,743 votes or 55.01 percent. Rousseau, the founder of a flooring business and the parent of a recent PPS graduate, received 9,005 votes or 22.78 percent. Declared write-in candidate Jacob Dimajo got 1 vote, and 8,777 or 22.21 percent of the votes in that race were left blank. Because Lena received more than 50 percent of the vote, that contest did not go to ranked-choice-voting tabulation. All voting tallies are unofficial until the Portland City Clerk's office officially certifies them.

Board member Bondo faced no opponent on the ballot in winning her third term holding the District 1 seat. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bondo is a PPS parent and is the director of In Her Presence, a nonprofit that seeks to empower immigrant women.

The District 2 seat is held by Board member Emily Figdor, who did not seek re-election. Ali won that seat unopposed. He describes himself as “an Ethiopian-American social activist.” He’s an artistic director with Maine Inside Out, an organization that uses theater to engage communities around the subject of incarceration, and works as an organizer with Maine Youth Justice. 

All Board seats are for three-year terms.

In addition, after a ranked-choice-voting tabulation on Nov. 6, current at-large Board member Ben Grant bested four other opponents to win an at-large City Council seat. Grant will resign from his Board seat before he is sworn in to the Council in December. It is not yet clear when an election will be held to fill the remaining one-year term for that vacant at-large Board seat, which is due to be up for election in November 2025.