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In our Election Spotlight this morning, the second of two Palm Beach County School Board primaries. Erica Whitfield is not seeking another term in District 4 as she is running for the County Commission.
That has four candidates vying for her seat on the School Board, including Dr. Tiffany Bryant who has worked within the Palm Beach County School District as a mental health counselor and as an adult and community education instructor as well as a substitute teacher currently. Bryant also works as a researcher and as a licensed financial advisor.
"It wasn't a space where I envisioned myself in but when I saw who the other candidates were, I knew that I had more to bring to the table and to offer to our voters and our constituency here in District 4 not only as a parent of a student but as a spouse of an educator in our public schools and as someone who's actually worked within our school system."
Bryant, who once worked as a Congressional Aide for the late South Florida Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, says she would have been a 'yes' vote for the 3 point 5 percent pay raises the board recently gave teachers, despite knowing that layoffs were likely. She says it's important to support teachers and make sure they are 'fairly compensated.'
Bryant wants to see the school district seek out more public-private partnerships to increase funding as thousands of students have left its schools.
"I think diversifying our revenue will give us space to supplement the funding that we already receive, not replace it, but definitely supplement the funding that we receive from the government."
The other three candidates in this race did not respond to multiple attempts to reach them for interviews.
Anthony Hamlet has worked as a teacher and principal in the Palm Beach County School District and is the founder of an educational consulting nonprofit.
Christina Romelus is a former Boynton Beach Commissioner and Vice Mayor and has worked as a professor at Palm Beach State College.
Daniel Zapata is a teacher and administrator at a private high school in Palm Beach County.