Four challengers hope to unseat Dave Miner from Manatee County School Board

Four challengers are hoping to unseat incumbent Dave Miner from his District 3 seat on the School Board of Manatee County.

Miner, a member of the school board since 2012, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a longtime Bradenton attorney. Each of his challengers touched on the need for safety in the new school year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the need to improve grade-level reading in Manatee County.

While their goals were often similar, the candidates offered different skill sets and perspectives. As former educators, school administrators, district leaders and finance experts, they each hail from different backgrounds.

The school board’s primary election is on Tuesday, and if no candidate wins a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters on Nov. 3.

Dave Miner

Miner said his interest in local schools began more than two decades ago, when his daughter enrolled at King Middle School and faced rampant mold problems.

“That’s how I got into finding out how this school district is run, requesting public records, attending school board meetings and even suing the school district to get a hold of records about finances and policies,” Miner said.

“That was a long time ago,” he continued. “I’m not suing the school district now, but the same basic priorities are with me. We want our students to have the best education possible, but we also need to consider their safety and health.”

To ensure the safety of students and district staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, Miner said it was important to stay informed about local and statewide issues, and to relay any concerns or ideas to the superintendent.

Miner represents the school district at meetings of the Florida School Board Association and the Central Florida School Board Coalition. Both organizations allow him to share ideas with other districts and to bring new ideas to Manatee County, he said.

If he were re-elected, Miner said he would push to incorporate solar panels and other energy-efficient designs into local schools. He also vowed to advocate for more opportunities, much like the dual-language program at Daughtrey Elementary, or the Woz ED program — created by Apple-co founder Steve Wozniak — at Palm View K-8 School.

Miner’s endorsements include the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange and MEA Tiger, the political action arm of the local teachers’ union.

He raised $21,010 as of late July, including $1,000 from developer Pat Neal. He received another $1,000 from Neal Land and Neighborhood, along with $2,000 from organizations associated with Neal’s business address, listed as “Huntington N’TL Real Estate” and “Arvida Corporate Park Association.”

Miner received a combined $4,000 from two executives at NDC Construction and their spouses. Other donations came from teachers, attorneys and the organizations that endorsed him.

His website is www.davewatchdogminer.com.

“The theme of my campaign is experience and credibility,” Miner said.

Mary Foreman

In 2013, after suffering a financial meltdown, the school district created an independent Audit Committee, and Foreman was one of the original members.

Foreman has more than 40 years of experience as a certified public accountant and she recently served the Audit Committee as its chair. Foreman said she hopes to join the school board, inspect the district budget and ask tough questions.

“From what I see, the district creates the budget and the board approves it,” Foreman said. “It’s almost a rubber stamp.”

Pointing to a steady increase in the district’s administrative costs, Foreman said she hoped to redirect money to local classrooms. But the call for accountability and transparency, she said, extends beyond the district’s finances.

The school board recently moved general public comment to the end of its meetings. At times, people have waited for hours to make a three-minute comment, and Foreman called the move “atrocious.”

“The public is their boss,” she said. “They need to recognize that.”

Foreman also questioned how the school district was nearing an “A” on the state’s grading system when nearly half of Manatee County students were not reading on grade level. There were no shortcuts to a quality education, and the needs of Manatee’s youngest students should be addressed, she said.

“It seems to me like they’re gaming the system to get to that A grade and ignoring the basics,” Foreman continued. “If you devote yourself to education and making sure that everyone can read, the district grade level will come with it.”

Her endorsements include Tea Party Manatee and the Manatee-Sarasota County Republican Assembly. She also received a highly-qualified rating from Christian Family Coalition Florida.

Foreman raised $21,030, including $15,010 of her own money. She received $100 from Karen Carpenter, a former school board member; $1,000 from Trans-United Development Corp., a company registered to developer Carlos Beruff; and several donations from area accountants.

Her website is www.mary-foreman.com.

Christine Dawson

As a local parent and educator, Dawson is familiar with Manatee County schools.

She worked in the district for more than three decades, from 1979 to 2015, as a teacher, principal and reading coach, among other instructional jobs. Dawson, a longtime Bradenton resident, said her two children also graduated from Manatee High School.

More recently, Dawson served as the chair of Lincoln Memorial Academy’s governing board. The school had its charter revoked and its property taken over by the school board in July 2019. While an administrative law judge upheld the decision months later, some believe there was foul play.

The school’s former leaders and their supporters believe the district purposely undermined LMA, which had converted from a traditional campus to a charter school. There is now an ongoing appeal of the takeover, along with a federal civil rights lawsuit against the district.

Dawson said her focus was now on Manatee County’s 50,000 students. Every school is unique and every student has individual needs, but she witnessed a “one-size-fits-all” mentality in the district. She was hoping to push for institutional change as a member of the school board.

The board could effect change, she said, by giving teachers more autonomy in their classrooms, and by giving veteran teachers the same consideration as new educators when having salary discussions. She also emphasized the need for more inclusive policies and better learning materials.

“Too often, the finger gets pointed at students. People say, ‘Those students are disadvantaged. Those students are coming to school without the skill to fit into the progression standards. Those students are Title I.’ It’s not those students. It’s the instruction that we choose to use,” Dawson concluded.

Dawson is endorsed by Progressive Manatee, and she was the favored candidate after a July 31 debate hosted by Teaching for the Culture. The organization hosted a virtual debate, polled its viewers and announced the winner days later.

She received dozens of contributions from individuals, including $500 from Christopher “C.J.” Czaia, another member of Lincoln Memorial Academy’s former governing board. Czaia’s law firm donated another $1,000, and Dawson received a total of $2,000 from Tag Feld and his law firm, which represented the charter school in a dispute over legal fees.

Dawson’s has raised a total of $9,541. Her website is www.christinedawson4manatee.com.

Scott Boyes

Boyes is a 30-year resident of Manatee County and a former administrator in the school district.

He raised a blended family with his wife, Michele, who still works for the district. Their eight children graduated from public schools in Manatee County, and Boyes retired as the principal of Jessie P. Miller Elementary School earlier this year.

At the onset of his career, Boyes operated a bill paying service and worked as a financial planner for more than a decade. While his roots are in the financial sector, Boyes said he grew to love education after enrolling his children in local schools and chairing a School Advisory Council.

He became a teacher at local schools for more than seven years and went on to become a principal at several campuses for more than a decade. Along with his financial expertise, Boyes said he had the perspective of both an educator and a school administrator. He hoped to leverage past experiences and help the school board solve complicated issues, including the local struggle with grade-level reading.

His utmost concern was providing a safe education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the immense pressure coming down from President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who both pushed for the reopening of schools, Boyes was happy with the multiple options afforded to families in Manatee County.

However, students were slated to begin on Monday, whether they chose in-person learning, online learning or a mix of the two. Manatee had one of the earliest start dates in the region, and Boyes said the school board should delay students’ return to September.

“I want to support my parents, my teachers and my students,” he said. “I don’t want to be the guinea pig.”

Boyes also pointed to the inevitable budget cuts that would result from decreased tax revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Money will need to follow the evolving needs, whether it be cleaning supplies for classrooms, technology for online learning or other necessities.

“Having somebody that’s run a school before, like myself, I think will be beneficial because I’ll understand what money can be cut and cannot be cut,” he said.

Boyes raised nearly $5,000, including $3,000 of his own money. His website is www.scottboyes.com.

Richard “Rick” Murphy

Murphy has experience as both a school board member and a school superintendent.

He served on the Hendry County School Board from 1994 to 2008, before working as Hendry’s superintendent from 2008 to 2012. In the years that followed, Murphy worked as an assistant principal in Palm Beach County, and he taught at Harllee Middle and King Middle in Manatee County, according to his candidate profile.

Murphy was most concerned about weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution, he said, was regular communication with families and district employees, along with plenty of creativity.

“We look at the adversity and the current situation, and we look for opportunities to do things differently,” Murphy said. “How can we work together and be successful?”

He was also interested in closing the local achievement gap and increasing Manatee’s graduation rate. That means targeted support and more instructional time, including summer programs, for students in pre-K through fifth grade, he said.

For the older students, Murphy emphasized the need for more career and technical education programs.

“Make sure kids want to graduate,” he said. “Show them the future and the opportunities.”

For students of all grade levels, Murphy said it was important that every school be well-resourced, and that school administrators be held accountable for their use of district resources.

Regardless of the challenge, success required open communication and the ability to think “out of the box,” Murphy said, promising both to Manatee County voters.

Murphy’s website is www.rickmurphy4manateeschoolboard.com. As of Aug. 13, Murphy contributed all of the $3,550 in his campaign funds.

“I don’t want to be under anybody’s thumb or owe any favors to anybody,” he said.

This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 1:45 PM.