James Golden unseats Scott-appointee John Colon from Manatee School Board

Former Bradenton city councilman James Golden unseated John Colon from the District 5 seat on the School Board of Manatee County in Tuesday’s primary election.

Colon, a former State Board of Education member and the vice president of investments for Wells Fargo Advisers, in Sarasota, was appointed to the board by Gov. Rick Scott in 2015.

But in his first attempt to have that appointment confirmed by the voters, Colon fell short.

Golden received 34,612 votes, or about 52.2 percent of the vote. Colon received 31,661 votes, or 47.8 percent.

“Obviously, the voters have spoken and they weren’t happy with my stewardship on the school board,” Colon said. “The teachers may not have been happy with their $5,000 (pay) increase. They’re not happy with the ‘A’ bond rating we have now — all the progress that we’ve made.”

Golden is a practicing minister and attorney, and he served on the Bradenton City Council from 1999 to 2007. Since losing his city council seat, Golden had unsuccessfully run for several other elected positions, including a seat in Congress.

He is also the first African-American to earn a seat on the school board since Barbara Harvey left in 2014.

“For one thing, I’m happy the people have had an opportunity to speak, and perhaps now I can become part of a more civil board,” Golden said on Tuesday evening.

School board members must live within the district they represent. However, all voters in the county decide school board races.

Another seat remains contested after Tuesday’s election. Since neither secured more than 50 percent of the vote, District 4 candidates Scott Hopes and Joe Stokes will face off in the general election on Nov. 6.

Stokes received 24,029 votes, or a little more than 35.9 percent. Hopes received 18,506 votes, or just under 27.7 percent.

Hopes was appointed to the board by Gov. Rick Scott on July 21, 2017, and he soon became the board’s chair.

Hopes said he envisions big changes for the school district, including a reorganization of the leadership structure, a greater focus on grade level reading and continued improvement of the school board.

“This is a decision that the people of Manatee County are going to make: do we go forward and become an A district and No. 1 in the state, or do we go back to the dark days of the past,” Hopes said.

His opponent plans to leave retirement after a 45-year career in education. Stokes previously served as a teacher and a principal in Indiana before he did the same in Manatee County. He also worked as Manatee’s director of elementary education.

Stokes said he wants to ensure that district employees are free to do their jobs, and to do them well. Counselors are overburdened, the school board lacks civility and schools are short on teachers, he has said.

“Tonight, when I spoke to the people that helped me, I’m giving credit to them because they worked hard, whether it was donating time, money or effort, waving a sign,” Stokes said Tuesday. “I’m a builder — I’m interested in seeing other people work together.”

The other two candidates for District 4 were Jim Daniel, who received nearly 17.1 percent of the vote, and Richard Murphy, who received about 19.3 percent of the vote.

And though Charlie Kennedy was a key figure in recent board disputes, he overcame the controversy and held on to his District 2 seat, earning 36,322 votes, or 53.7 percent of the total vote. He outpaced Alice Kaddatz, who earned 31,313 votes, or 46.3 percent of the total.

Kennedy was first elected to the board in 2014, later serving as its vice chair and then its chair.

He tried to unseat Hopes from his position after the chairman got into a heated verbal argument with another board member on Feb. 27. Kennedy and the chairman later met for a publicly noticed one-on-one meeting, which came to a halt after they disagreed on whether the meeting should be recorded.

Kennedy has since abandoned the topic. Citing improved finances and a strong administration, he said the district is poised for success, and that drama would only hinder the board.

Reflecting on his narrow victory and Colon’s loss, he said the election was cause for reflection. He previously said this would be his last term on the board.

“I think it’s a wake-up call to me especially,” he said. “The voters approved me for another term, and to Ms. Kaddatz’s credit, it was a very close race.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 8:26 PM.