Three of the five seats on the Brevard School Board will appear on the primary ballot this August, resulting in at least one new face on the dais.
The pool of candidates for the primary election Aug. 28 was cemented Friday, the deadline to qualify.
If none of the candidates in a district race is able to secure more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, prompting a run-off between the top two vote-getters, the winners will be decided in the Nov. 6 general election.
• In District 1, which includes much of North Brevard, the candidates are incumbent Misty Belford, David Meader and Shana Moore.
• In District 2,which includesMerritt Island, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and parts of Cocoa and Rockledge,the candidates are Cheryl McDougall, Charles Parker and Frank Sullivan. Incumbent John Craig did not file for re-election, saying he would like to focus more time on his two children and their education.
• In District 5, which includes much of South Brevard, the candidates are Katye Campbell, Kelly Damerow, Dean Paterakis and incumbent Andy Ziegler.
School board members serve four-year terms and make $40,080.
Tina Descovich currently represents District 3, and Matt Susin represents District 4. Both were elected in 2016 and have two more years in their terms.
School board elections are nonpartisan, so the candidates do not run as Republicans or Democrats.
More:Who made the County Commission primaries?
More:Port commissioners re-elected without opposition
District 1
Belford, who has sat on the board since 2014, and challenger Meader collected enough voter signatures to be placed on the ballot. Moore, who has yet to raise any money, is a write-in candidate.
Belford, a former adjunct communications professor at Rollins College, has said her priorities if re-elected will be to provide more social emotion supports for students who comefrom low-income families, are in foster care or are homeless;more mental health programs for all students; and to address the district's growing student-suicide rate. She said she will work to ensure that students have access to career and technical programs that align with local industry demands, and that low-performing and gifted students have access to programs that suit their needs.
Belford pushed to reopen South Lake Elementary in Titusville as a choice school and, following the Parkland school shooting, supported hiring full-time armed security guards to patrol the county's elementary school — a decision that has been met with pushback from some Brevard parents.
Meader, a former teacher atJackson Middle in Titusvillefor 14 years, said he hopes to correct the inequitable distributionof school resources that have negatively impacted the northern end of the county. According to his website, he would like to open a choice high school and expand vocational programs in North Brevard, reduce classroom overcrowding by "adhering to the class size amendment" and pay teachers a competitive salary.
There is a wide gap between money raised by Belford and Meader. Thus far, Belford has raised $10,046, while Meader has raised $23,990.
Belford appears to have the support of many Brevard leaders, including United Way President Rob Rains, County Commission ChairRita Pritchett, former County Commissioner Robin Fisher andformer School Board member Robert Jordan, all of whom donated to Belford's campaign. The Business Voice of Florida's Space Coast also endorsed Belford.
However, Meader has been endorsed by the Brevard Federation of Teachers union and also received a contribution from Brevard County Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis, an influential voice in the local political sphere.
More:Brevard School Board OKs plan to reopen South Lake
More:Brevard Schools launches search for 'security specialists'
District 2
Only McDougall qualified by collecting the necessary 806 petition signatures from voters. Parker and Sullivan qualified by payingthe $1,603.20 qualifying fee.
McDougall, a licensed social worker, said her platform includes devising a fiscally responsible budget; putting more school resource officers and mental health clinicians in schools; andproviding social emotional curriculum for students and adequate supports for teachers and staff.
More:Craig won't seek re-election toSchool Board
Parker, a teacher at Merritt Island High School, has said he would like to restructure how the district awards raises to teachers in order to keep up with the cost of living and tie bonuses to professional development courses instead of annual evaluations. He also would like to reverse the board's recent decision to hire an armored-car service, strengthen the district's career and technical programs and implement virtual meetings so employees have more planning time.
So far, McDougall has raised $1,393 and Parker has raised $4,234.
Both have criticized Sheriff Wayne Ivey's proposal to arm school employees and have said they would like to put a school resource officer in every school — an initiative the current board has committed to bringing to fruition, but has said there is little money and not enough manpower to do so.
Sullivan, a former Canaveral Port Authority commissioner and businessman, only filed to run last week and has not given many details about the sorts of projects he would pursue if elected to the board and has yet to raise any money.He did say he would support arming school employees.
The Brevard Federations of Teachers has yet to endorse a candidate in the District 2 race.
More:Fearing it would fail, BPS abandons tax for security, teacher raises
More:Following protests, teachers union and district agree on raises
District 5
Campbell, a former teacher, has said she will focus on school security, making sure teachers are supported, ensuring the board spendstax dollars wisely and involving the community in more of the board's decisions. At a candidate forum, Campbell said she would like to revisit arming volunteer school employees and training them throughIvey's Sheriff-Trained Onsite Marshal Program, a program the current school board has already voted to postpone indefinitely.
Damerow, a teacher-turned-attorney, has said she will focus on working with community organizations to combat child hunger, re-evaluating the oversight and establishment of new charter schools and boosting teacher pay.
Damerow was endorsed by the Brevard Federation of Teachers, as well as several teachers and community members who protested at board meetings to attempt to dissuade the board from adopting Ivey's STOMP plan. Damerow attended many of the protests, lending support to the residents.
Paterakis has said he will focus on ending Common Core, a controversial math curriculum that is still used for the Florida Standards Assessment;school board misspending; and the employment of "bad employees" in the Brevard school system, according to his website.
The former teacherpreviously has run for seats in Districts 3, 4 and 5 but never been elected to the board.
Paterakis made nationalheadlines in 2016 when he was forcibly removed from a school board meetingafter heused the phrase "erect penis"in reference to a 2014 incident in which a teacher revealed an explicit photo of male genitaliato his class, an event which the teacher described after the fact as an accident. That particular board meeting had drawn a large crowd to discuss a new non-discrimination policy forlesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and staff.
More:Paterakis ejected from School Board candidate forum
More:Ziegler cleared of sexual harassment allegations
Paterakis was arrested fordisrupting a school function and resisting arrest without violence, but charges against him were not filed. Ziegler was the school board chairman at the time. Paterakis said Ziegler's actions violated his First Amendment Rights.
A member of the school board since 2008, Zieglerhas touted his experience over his opponents. He said his focus will continue to be on securing more funding for Brevard schools, pointing to his work to keep "federally connected funds" that pay for capital projects in areas with a lot of government-owned land that cannot be taxed and the opening of three free employee clinics.
Ziegler recently voted to hire armed security guards for the district's elementary school and voted to postpone adopting Ivey's STOMP plan.
Ziegler's image took a hit earlier this school year when an employee accused him of sexual harassment. Ziegler was alleged with showing up at the employee's home at night to invite her to a party, touching the small of her back and making comments in front of colleagues that made the employee uncomfortable. However, Ziegler was ultimately cleared.
He was endorsed by the Business Voice of Florida's Space Coast. Former school board member Robert Jordan, County Commission Vice ChairKristine Isnardiand Palm Bay City Manager Gregg Lynk donated to his campaign.
Zieglerhas raised significantly more money than his opponents, collecting $22,977 in contributions. Campbell has raised $8,583 and Damerow has raised $9,803. Paterakis has raised $2,694 — all of which was contributed by Paterakis himself.
Caroline Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact her at caglenn@floridatoday.com or 321-576-5933, or follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like "Education at Florida Today" on Facebook.
