A highly politicized and contentious runoff election for Huntsville Board of Education (BOE) ended Tuesday in a landslide victory for Andrea Alvarez over her opponent, Angela McClure.
Alvarez brought in 2,724 votes, roughly 62.62% of the total, for the District 3 seat. McClure drew 1,626 votes or 37.38%.
Madison County reported just above 10% registered voter turnout.
The election drew much ire from both sides, with McClure claiming Alvarez intended to introduce and expand critical race theory (CRT) and social and emotional learning (SEL).
See also: Drag queens, Critical Race Theory front and center in Tuesday's Huntsville school board runoff
McClure shared a brief message to her supporters as the election results were announced.
"Well, we fought hard, but it wasn't quite enough," McClure said. "Thank you again to all my supporters."
Throughout the campaign, McClure maintained that Alvarez attempted to smuggle a "liberal agenda" into the school system. She also claimed Alvarez has repeatedly endorsed SEL as well as tenets of CRT involving gender identity and the use of alternative pronouns.
"This ideology that the liberals are pushing is in our schools; it's in our curriculum, and teachers are not being held accountable for what they say in the classroom," McClure told 1819 News. "The children should not be exposed to who [teachers] are married to, what political party they like, and what gender they are. Teachers should not be asking children those kinds of questions."
Alvarez contended that McClure was attempting to focus the race on social issues rather than issues that plague the Huntsville school system due to McClure's lack of experience and knowledge.
According to Alvarez, SEL is far from a woke attempt to smuggle CRT curriculum into the school. Instead, she said it is a guiding principle to help student development.
"SEL has been in place as long as we've had guidance counselors," Alvarez said. "All it is is self-regulation. It's being kind. It's not bullying. It's the generic emotional intelligence of being a decent person in a room of people you may or may not like.
"[McClure] tries to say that it's critical race theory, that it's gender, that it is sexualizing our children, that it's gender mutilation. My goodness. The things she has tried to say SEL is, is just so unreasonable."
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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