By Dan E. Way

dway@heraldsun.com; 918-1035

CHAPEL HILL -- Joe Green was still rubbing his eyes in a bit of disbelief an hour after the vote tallies showed he was one of three candidates elected to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education on Tuesday.

"I didn't even run for second-grade class president or anything," the 41-year-old political novice said. "We'll take it of course. We worked really hard, but I was surprised . . . pleasantly surprised."

He credited his campaign manager, Eugene Farrar, and "a really wonderful team" in helping him to compete with a field of candidates in which "everyone had a strong campaign."

Green was backed by 16.3 percent of the voters, or 4,097 in all, making him the third-highest recipient in the field of six contestants.

Michelle Brownstein was the high vote-getter, with 6,861 ballots, or 27.4 percent of the vote. Gregory McElveen received 4,351 votes, or 17.3 percent of the total, to round out the winning field.

"Hopefully we can add a lot to the school board," said Green, director of the Upward Bound program at UNC's School of Education.

"I think part of the things I tried to emphasize in the campaign is that I'm an educator," Green said "so I'll continue to bring that hands-on experience to the table."

He's already mapping out his priorities.

"I'll team up with the other school board members and look at the budget first," Green said. He's also interested in tackling "the challenges we face in regard to the minority achievement gap," helping students transition from elementary to secondary school and "empowering the teachers more to teach . . . not just teaching to a test."

Attempts to reach Brownstein and McElveen were not successful.

Brownstein is a retired surgeon and mother of four. McElveen owns a market research and business development firm. He has been on the school board since December 2008, when he was appointed to fill an unexpired term.