A new candidate challenges Miner for his Manatee School Board seat, another drops out

Three people are now challenging incumbent Dave Miner for his seat on the School Board of Manatee County, after one person announced their campaign and another withdrew from the race on Tuesday.

Christine Dawson, a longtime educator and the former chair of Lincoln Memorial Academy’s governing board, announced her candidacy in a news release on Tuesday morning. She filed to run for the District 3 seat on Friday, about one week after Miner launched his re-election campaign.

“I have resided in District 3 my entire career,” she said, responding to questions from the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday afternoon. “It’s where my kids went through school.”

Shaun Lehoe, a full-time father and concerned citizen, published his own news release on Tuesday evening, announcing his decision to withdraw and support Dawson.

He said the decision was motivated by “COVID-19 and the current civil unrest in America, following the murder of George Floyd at the knee of police.”

“At this time I feel my voice is greatly needed in the continued fight for racial equality and criminal justice reform,” he said in the release. “I will use my voice to speak up for those murdered for simply being born a darker shade of human.”

Between 1979 and 2015, Dawson worked as a teacher, principal and reading coach. She also has experience as an assistant principal and instructional specialist, among other positions, according to the news release.

In the interview on Tuesday afternoon, Dawson said she spent time at Manatee, Daughtrey, Orange Ridge-Bullock, Kinnan and Palmetto elementary schools. She also rotated between a host of schools as an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) specialist.

More recently, Dawson chaired the governing board for Lincoln Memorial Academy, formerly known as Lincoln Middle School before its conversion to a charter school.

Dawson fought back tears on the night of July 23, 2019, after the school board voted to terminate Lincoln Memorial’s charter and take over its campus, citing issues with its finances and leadership. An administrative law judge upheld the school board’s decision about two months later.

The school’s governing board maintained that Lincoln Memorial and its principal, Eddie Hundley, were the target of misinformation and financial sabotage by local officials.

Lincoln Memorial Academy is now fighting to reclaim its charter in a state appeals court, and it launched a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school district, the city of Palmetto and the Florida Department of Education. Both cases are ongoing.

“We felt all our decisions regarding the school were in the best interest of the school and the students and the community,” she said. “The battle continues and we shall see, but I would have no problem responding to anyone’s questions.”

The decision to run for school board, she said, had nothing to do with Lincoln Memorial. Miner’s seat was up, and Dawson said she wanted to act on her longtime goal of serving on the board.

In her recent news release, Dawson shared a philosophy that guides her decision-making: “We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.”

“Dynamic leadership creates transcendental change when built on ‘both-and,’ inclusive, transparent decision making,” the release states. “Rid current system of ‘either-or,’ exclusive, partisan politics.”

Dawson said it was important to instill self-worth in teachers and students, and to match teaching strategies with different learning styles. She valued “learning to mastery, remediation through accelerated instruction, and assessment that drives instruction.”

“I think the goal should be that all students will achieve to the highest level demanded by the state, and I think I bring knowledge of how to do that,” Dawson said. “I think we’ve moved much too slowly, and I think acceleration is the key.”

She is among the three people to challenge Miner for his seat on the school board.

Scott Boyes, the former principal at Jessie P. Miller Elementary School, announced his retirement and filed as a candidate in early February. Boyes said he operated a bill paying service and worked as a financial planner for more than a decade, before his career as an educator and school administrator.

Mary Foreman recently served as chair of the school district’s independent Audit Committee. She worked as a certified public accountant for more than four decades, and she highlighted the need for more financial expertise on the school board.

Miner and the three candidates will face off in the primary election on Aug. 18. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff on Nov. 3.

“Achievement is not moving as fast as it needs to move, and I think the school board, they’re charged with leading that,” Dawson concluded. “I would like to be part of it.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 4:07 PM.