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Full house for first of four forums for school board candidates ahead of DCPS elections

Full house for first of four forums for school board candidates ahead of DCPS elections

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – Nearly every seat was filled Tuesday at the Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) candidate forum, hoping to hear from the two women running for Duval County School Board District 3.

Some attendees were disappointed that Rebecca Nathanson did not attend the forum, even though she originally planned to do so.

Nathanson’s opponent, Cindy Pearson, answered questions for more than an hour about issues surrounding Duval County Public Schools, including school closings and state testing results.

RELATED: DCPS School Board Will Look Different After Election, But One Seat May Remain The Same

Latrice Carmichael lives in District 1. She is also the site coordinator for a parent-leader organization. She attended the forum to make sure she had information about the candidates to share with people in her organization.

“Unfortunately, one of the candidates didn’t show up, so all the information I got came from Cindy Pearson. It was interesting to see her perspective and her perspective and her dream for our district, so it was pretty enlightening for me,” Carmichael said.

Pearson said if she is re-elected, she will focus on three main areas with the district’s budget
are the most important.

“Making sure that our spending is aligned with our revenue and that’s going to drive a lot of the other issues that we’re talking about. The second is student achievement, making sure that by 2026 we get to that point where 60 percent of our students are reading at grade level as measured by the test. And then there’s a third issue, which is neighborhood schools. We’re in a big community conversation right now about neighborhood schools,” Pearson said.

There was no specific reason for Nathanson’s absence Tuesday night, but New4JAX spoke with her Monday afternoon. She said her priorities for the school board include focusing on student literacy, school discipline and safety, teacher retention, and wasteful spending.

“Because these are the biggest concerns of voters in District Three, that would be the shortest answer, because our literacy scores, every time the school district reports to the board, the academic achievement score is based on state tests, and we continue to lag behind the state average. So, it has to be our top priority, we have to get back to basics,” Nathanson said Monday.

Carmichael was pleased with what she heard from Pearson.

“But it only works if we’re all involved in making sure our kids get a good education,” Carmicheal said. “Events like this are so important to get involved in school board elections and education in general.”

The JPEF is organizing three more candidate forums ahead of the upcoming school board elections on August 20.

You can vote early from August 5.

The other forums are as follows:

  • District 1: July 25 in the Citadel Church from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

  • District 5: July 30 in EWU Milne Auditorium from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

  • District 7: August 1st at Hopewell Church from 6:00pm to 8:00pm

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