Professional Experience
Florida Registered Investment Advisor 1979 to present; Martin County School Board Member 2014 to present
Education
Bachelor Economics, Loyola University, Baltimore, Maryland; Certified Board Member, Florida School Boards Association, Tallahassee, Florida
Campaign Phone
772-528-1088
I am proud of my school board accomplishments and community track record.... Accomplishments/involvement during 12 yrs on our school board: A-rated District; enviable campus safety; better infrastructure; solid finances; accountability; transparency & more. My performance is validated with statewide recognition & awards. I’ve consistently focused on fiscal responsibility and student outcomes.... During my 46 yrs in Martin County: 30,000 hours of volunteer service (15 yrs Stuart Local Planning Agency; 10 yrs with Martin County Children’s Services Council; Lyric Theatre; and more). My commitment to our community is unquestioned... I honestly believe that I am the best choice for this job. If someone better was running, I would vote for them.
My work on our school board for the past 12 years has helped keep our public schools relevant in two important ways:.. 1. Our schools are an attractive, desirable choice. I have helped us replace two obsolete schools, modernize existing campuses, enhance school safety, expand career & technical program offerings, create vibrant & engaging learning environments, and more... 2. We are well-funded. I worked on local referendums, increasing our income over our state-designated revenue limit by an additional $17 million yearly. I monitor expenditures to identify dollars that can be spent for students..... Keeping a focus on careful budgeting and low debt allows us to consistently continue high-quality programs and expand with new initiatives.
With 12 years of School Board experience, I ensure Martin County follows Florida law, State Board of Education requirements, and locally adopted Policies..... Textbooks and instructional materials are reviewed through a transparent process with committees, public comment, hearings, and board approval..... Library catalogs are available online..... Parents can opt out of lessons/materials and choose participation in AP & Dual Enrollment courses (managed out-of-district)..... Parents & the public can request review of materials (handled through a multi-tiered process)..... Transparency and parental involvement remain priorities. Our goal is to allow parents to specify their child's exposure without undue restrictions for other students.
We use a variety of tactics to address teacher and staff shortages:.... ~Monitor teacher vacancies weekly, filling in with qualified substitutes as needed.. ~Offer stipends & incentives for hard-to-fill positions and advanced degrees.. ~Utilize a "Grow Your Own" Para-to-Teacher pipeline.. ~Recruit a limited number of international teachers.. ~Allocate referendum-funded stipends (for meaningful salary boosts).. ~Outsource to contract labor when necessary.. ~Provide health insurance, professional development, and a sick leave bank to strengthen retention.. ~Enhance the work environment by improving school safety and eliminating student cell phones........ We continue to modify & adapt using a variety of strategies to recruit & retain staff.
1. Improve achievement of all students. ~How? Funding early intervention, Ongoing monitoring, Personalized instruction (with teacher training & accountability).. 2. Reauthorize the operating referendum in 2028.~Why? This adds over $1,000 per-student to our operating funds. This supports teacher recruitment & retention, school safety, mental health, professional development & academic initiatives.. 3. Expand STEM, career, technical, arts, & enrichment opportunities for all students. ~How? By strengthening partnerships & maintaining responsible financial stewardship..... Huge strides have been made with our high-functioning governance team. Maintaining our momentum keeps our A-rating, advances our students, and benefits our entire community.
With 12 years on the Martin County School Board I continue to perform many duties to ensure that students with disabilities receive needed services. I diligently:.. ~Review FTE audits (to ensure that funding is maximized).. ~Structure budgets (using detail from past data).. ~Monitor ongoing financial transactions (for appropriate spending & residual available funds).. ~Support IDEA compliance.. ~Approve staffing solutions for hard-to-fill positions.. ~Designate appropriate funding for transition programs.. ~Leverage community partnerships (providing workforce entry options).. ~Identify and pursue additional revenue opportunities (referendums, reclamation, partnerships)... This work enables us to meet student needs without delay or worry.
During my 12 years on our Martin County School Board I have improved financial transparency by:.... 1. Rewriting referendum language to clearly define spending and oversight.... 2. Publicly tracking every COVID relief project and expenditure.... 3. Creating detailed, understandable five-year capital spending plans.... 4. Expanding the annual Budget Book for public review.... 5. Enhancing financial reporting, matching comprehensive reports to detailed monthly and annual reports.... 6. Analyzing, explaining and creating documents from state funding data so that taxpayers can understand how school dollars are collected, allocated, and spent....... And, I am always available to answer individual questions about our school district finances.
Professional Experience
Municipal Government, Public Service, Compliance and Teacher
Education
Elementary Education Degree/ Master Municipal Clerk
Campaign Phone
772-260-5038
My experience in municipal government, my background as a teacher, and my perspective as a mother of three give me a balanced understanding of how decisions affect classrooms, budgets, and families. I know how schools work from the inside, how policy works at the local level, and what parents need for their children to thrive.
Together, these experiences allow me to approach school board decisions with a balance of practical governance, educational insight, and real‑world family perspective. That combination is why I believe I’m the strongest candidate to help guide our district forward.
As a parent of three, I take the future of our public schools personally. I want every child in our community to have strong, well‑funded neighborhood schools they can rely on. That’s why I’m committed to protecting public education in the face of growing charter and voucher pressures.
As a school board member, my responsibility will be to uphold a legal, consistent, and educationally sound process when concerns arise about curriculum or library materials. I recognize that families hold diverse values, and it is essential that we address those concerns respectfully while maintaining our commitment to the legal process, all while preserving a high‑quality public education.
My commitment is to ensure that our district treats educators as the essential professionals they are through fair pay, very supportive environments, and long‑term investment in the workforce that serves our children and their future. My goal would be to have a strong recruitment process in place to ensure hiring the best candidates.
As your candidate for school board , my vision focuses on three pillars:
Academic Excellence: Improve student achievement through targeted support.
Character Development: Building good citizens through consistent, values-driven instruction.
Strong Relationships: Fostering meaningful connections between students, parents and teachers by increasing community engagement and transparency.
Healthy schools require healthy debate with positive communication pathways . We need a school board that listens to parents, teachers and students making them feel valued when their voices matter. I also would ensure that budget cuts to special education departments do not exceed the proportional drop in total student enrollment. The district should also apply for federal, state, and private philanthropic grants dedicated specifically to special education.
I would streamline the budget as a "plain language" and easy to understand budgeting. Budget documents are often dense and complex. I would require the district to publish a "plain language" budget featuring easy-to-read graphs and visual data so that community members can understand the budget without needing an accounting degree.
Professional Experience
Retired U.S. Army Colonel, Strategic Planner, Associate University Professor, Author and Self-directed Securities Trader
Education
B.A. Political Science & History, Rhode Island College; M.S. Personnel Management, Troy University; U.S. Army War College
Campaign Phone
772-240-6880
I’m a retired Army Colonel, author and self-directed options trader. My wife Lynn and I have lived in North River Shores for the past 25 years. I hold a B.A. in Political Science and History, an M.S. in Personnel Management and am a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. Related experience that I bring to the table includes: 10 years as a national level strategic planner in the Pentagon and Korea; four years as an associate professor at Tuskegee University; four years of installation master planning; and 14 years managing the training of organizations ranging in size from 50 to 650 personnel. I also have experienced four years of cross-cultural coordination with Vietnamese and Korean military allies.
Opposing Schools of Hope and pursuing savings by examining consent agenda items related to contracts that sustain operations and maintenance functions. Federal grants must be examined and reviewed to assess value added and ensure that grants do not indefinitely obligate the budget. Managerial-level position descriptions within departments must be reviewed to identify those that are over graded and can be replaced by administrative assistant or executive secretary positions. All 6 metrics of school ratings must be closely monitored. Resources may have to be prioritized for improvements in reading, math, sciences and social studies; and 4-year high school graduation rates over accelerated success metrics even if an A rating temporarily drops.
Locally, the Board must focus on prioritizing mastery of reading, math, and cognitive skills required for the Florida’s 2030 economy and beyond. Civics and U.S. History should be taught objectively without activist ideologies from the left or right. I will hold Dist 1 town hall meetings, initially monthly, to develop recommended legislation to focus the legislature on needed curriculum improvements. Elementary school texts and library books must integrate themes of ethical dealings with people, basic integrity, respect for the rights and property of others; and especially on the dignity of every individual. This includes tolerance of those who are different, but without excessive focus on details of different lifestyles.
Recognize outstanding achievement at multiple levels based on results-oriented performance. Signing bonuses for experienced reading, math and science teachers. Premium pay for teachers who qualify and certify as School Guardians. Achieving savings by identifying redundant over graded positions in the MCSD administration suitable for replacement with administrative assistants and clerical positions. Close examination of contracts to identify excess items or non-essential services.
(1) Enhancing school safety by fully implementing the Florida School Guardian Program. School preparedness must be strengthened to rapidly suppress a live shooter. All schools must regularly exercise incident response plans integrating on-site School Resource Officers, thoroughly vetted and trained Guardian Staff and Teachers, and our law enforcement agencies. (2) Prioritize cognitive transitional skills that high school graduates will require for Florida’s Economy for the years 2030 and beyond. Increase emphasis on vocational education transitional skills by continuously reviewing The FL School Ratings metric of “Accelerated Success." (3) Continuous K-12 emphasis on Ethics, Integrity, and Empathy by following the "golden rule."
Partnerships with community non-profits that have specialized focus on specific conditions and needs.
Applying my strategic planning experience that included managing a $600M annual budget, which exceeds our School District’s $588M. All budget items must be identified with detailed clarity at the department level to quickly identify items such as positions and salaries, scope of contracts for such things as operations and maintenance of facilities and vehicles, and consumable supplies. Department heads must provide executive summaries of less than one page that explain all high-dollar consent agenda items.
