Strong Schools Require Steady, Thoughtful Leadership.
For more than four decades, Antoinette Kahan has served Virginia Beach as a healthcare professional, educator, and community leader. She and her husband raised two sons in Virginia Beach Public Schools and have called District 6 their home for decades. Her experience spans the classroom, healthcare, workforce development, public service, and community leadership. Throughout her career, she has focused on one goal: helping people learn, grow, and succeed. She is a builder. She builds programs, partnerships, opportunities, and trust.

Today, she is ready to bring that same commitment to the Virginia Beach School Board.

A Career Built in This Community
Antoinette began her career as a registered dental hygienist and spent 44 years working directly with patients and families in Virginia Beach.

She later became Director of the Dental Assisting Program at the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center, where she built the program from the ground up, developed curriculum, and helped students gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to enter rewarding careers.

She also worked with state curriculum initiatives and student leadership organizations including SkillsUSA and HOSA, helping prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Throughout her career, Antoinette has believed that strong outcomes happen when people work together.

Building Partnerships That Work
She developed an award-winning partnership between the Virginia Beach Career and Technical Education Center and Virginia Beach Dental Public Health, creating opportunities for students while expanding access to care.

The program received the City of Virginia Beach Outstanding Model Partnership Award and was later featured at the National Oral Health Conference as an example of effective community collaborations.

As president of the Oral Health Improvement Coalition of South Hampton Roads, she also worked alongside healthcare providers, educators, and community organizers to improve access to oral healthcare throughout the region.

Why Experience Matters
School board service requires more than good intensions.

It requires understanding how classrooms function, how policies directly affect students and teachers, how budgets impact services, and how to bring people together around solutions.

Antoinette’s experience as a parent, educator, healthcare professional, and community leader gives her a practical understanding of how decisions made by the School Board affect students, families, teachers, and taxpayers. Her approach is simple: Listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, follow the facts, and keep students at the center of every decision.