Photo: CBS 12
There are five candidates in the race for the Palm Beach County School Board seat in District 5, which is being vacated by longtime board member and former Chairman Frank Barbieri.
Candidate Gloria Branch is a banker and a substitute teacher over the past two years in Palm Beach County public schools. She's also the daughter of one-time Superintendent Art Johnson.
Branch's platform is centered around getting 'Back to Basics' and focusing on the fundamentals, including when it comes to reading.
"Because I see how kids are not on grade level. Not every child though, but it's almost like phonetic awareness, phonics, word recognition, site words, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. Some second-graders could not even sound out words."
Branch has a daughter attending public school in Palm Beach County.
Mindy Koch spent 40 years as a teacher, 19 of those in Palm Beach County. She is also the former Chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, but tells me that shouldn't matter to voters in this nonpartisan race.
'We're here to represent all the children and it doesn't matter where they come from or how much English they know or don't know or where their family lives. We're just here to represent the children in the fairest way possible. And I don't think that knowing my party is a benefit or a negative at all."
Koch wants to provide more mental health services for children.
Mike Letsky is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, an aerospace engineer and a business owner. He says the school district, the county's largest employer, has an attrition problem with teachers, school police officers and bus drivers.
"And I'm the candidate that's actually the aerospace engineer. The one that is a serial entrepreneur. I've owned and operated three businesses successfully, had teams of employees working for me. I understand corporate culture. I know how to stop employee attrition. These are business problems that business people need to solve and this is why business people need to b e on the Board of the School District."
Like Branch, Letsky has kids attending county schools.
Suzanne Page unsuccessfully ran against Frank Barbieri four years ago for this seat.
"So I had a message for the parents and I still have a message for the parents because I'm an outsider. I'm not a politician. I've been in business, I've been in the government and I've been more than 30 years on the college level with the kids. So I get the K-12 product from the public schools every day of my life and it's not a pretty sight."
Page is a former city planner and mortgage broker and is currently working as a college professor online. She has a five step plan to revolutionize the Palm Beach County school system.
The fifth candidate in this race is Charman Postel, a business consultant who is one of three candidates to have children attending local public schools. She is a former early childhood educator and a current substitute teacher. Postel says there are too many distractions keeping schools from what should be the main goals.
"We need to focus on our literacy. We need to focus on the math scores and the data will show you that we need to also focus on the soft skills, leadership skills and we also need to focus on graduating our kids with readiness after high school."