Activist files to run against Manatee School Board Chairman Dave Miner

Frustrated with a year of seemingly endless controversy, a local man has filed to challenge Dave Miner for his seat on the School Board of Manatee County.

Shaun Lehoe, who describes himself as a full-time father and activist, filed to run for the District 3 seat on Thursday morning. Miner, the school board’s chairman, had yet to file for re-election on Monday, and he could not be reached for comment.

The school board primary election is Aug. 18. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff on Nov. 3.

“Our self-proclaimed ‘watchdog’ is no longer a watchdog,” Lehoe said in a news release, referring to a nickname Miner gave himself. “He is complicit in the fraud of our school district and has lost the support of the community.”

The school board, he said, continues to back Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, despite an ongoing disciplinary case with the Florida Department of Education. The DOE’s Office of Inspector General found that Saunders inflated graduation rates between 2014 and 2016, and the Education Practices Commissioner rejected her settlement agreement last month.

Lehoe also called the July takeover of Lincoln Memorial Academy “false and fraudulent.” While an administrative law judge upheld the school board’s decision to terminate Lincoln’s charter, citing issues with its finances and principal, the school’s former leaders are now fighting in a state appeals court.

They are supported by Lehoe and other community members who perceived the takeover as a coordinated attack on the students — most of them minorities — and their families, who showed up in droves at subsequent school board meetings.

The school district soon implemented bag checks and hand-held metal detectors at the entrance to board meetings, citing “safety concerns associated with school board members and/or meetings.” Manatee also closed the use of an overflow room, mandated that all guests remain seated, and limited attendance to the number of seats in its board room.

Lehoe also cited the ejection of Arthur Huggins from last week’s school board meeting. At the request of Paul Damico, chief of safety and security for the school district, a Bradenton police officer helped to remove Huggins, who was standing quietly at the back of the room, stretching his back.

“Those measures were initiated because previous board meetings had become over-crowded with people standing in the aisles and blocking the walkways, which was disruptive to school board proceedings,” district attorney Mitchell Teitelbaum said last Wednesday.

“The board is attempting to silence black voices!” Lehoe said in an email to supporters on Sunday.

According to his candidate statement, Lehoe is a full-time father and caregiver. His youngest niece, Sierra, suffered a stroke and a three-month hospital stay in 2017, and Lehoe adopted her in September 2018.

Lehoe grew up in Venice and studied accounting at the University of Central Florida from the late ‘90s to early 2000s, though he stopped one semester short of graduation, instead transferring to High-Tech Institute for a degree in massage therapy.

Around the same time, Lehoe worked as a “ride and show attendant” for Universal Orlando’s former King Kong ride, climbing the ranks and becoming a cost control analyst for the park. He later studied theology and became and ordained minister.

He has also worked as a loss control manager for Walmart, as the store manager for a check cashing store, and as the communications director for the Manatee County Democratic Party. Lehoe said he worked on several campaigns over the past two decades, and he currently works as the campaign manager for Eleuterio “Junior” Salazar, a candidate for Bradenton City Council.

Now, Lehoe said he wants to bring accountability and financial responsibility to the school board.

“For these reasons I can not sit back any longer and watch,” he said in a news release. “I feel the need to step up for the teachers, students and parents of Manatee County to restore faith in our board.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 1:41 PM.