Abbitt: Vote for Plavac and Pelham for School Board

Letter to the editor

Voting is the most powerful way to drive systemic change. Social media posts excel at raising awareness, but they do not change the ineffective leadership. Campaign signs and community forums matter, but casting your ballot is what truly counts. If you want a system that works, you have to show up to change it.

I understand how most community members feel detached from the upcoming school board elections.  As a former Alachua County School Board member, having seen the inner workings of this school system has left me feeling disillusioned and disheartened. Most people are completely wrapped up in their daily lives and lack faith that their individual ballot will matter, which leads them to feel indifferent about their ability to make a difference. Every vote makes a difference. Urging neighbors, colleagues, and friends to vote is important, even if they feel untouched by the issues.

School Board elections matter most because a quality education dictates the entire trajectory of a child’s life. Broken school systems fail our children by not providing them with the foundational tools needed to survive in the real world. A lack of education reduces career choices, which often contributes to increased stress and financial instabilities. There are restricted life choices for those who are unable to support themselves because the educational system failed them.

Struggling public schools affect the entire community. When a neighborhood school struggles, property values for that area decline. Research shows a correlation between crime rates and education. Every taxpayer dollar diverted to manage the systemic fallout of high crime rates is a dollar that cannot be invested in parks, community spaces, or repairing local roads. Your vote determines whether elected officials create policies that address the structure and needs of struggling schools, so that students do have the skills to be successful as adults.

When you vote, know your candidates. Do you want board members who are proactive or reactive?  School Board members have only two tasks — to approve the budget and hire the superintendent.  Proactive School Board members focus heavily on budget transparency — how the funding is being spent. Where is the waste? Why does the school district lease unused facilities to nonprofits for nominal rent when the operational overhead far exceeds the rental income? Should the budget reflect a closing of the gap between district administrators and classroom teachers?  Proactive School Board members hire a superintendent whose mission is in line with that of the board. Is this the person who will take our schools in the needed direction?

Reactive School Board members limit public comment because they are afraid of backlash from the community that elected them. A reactive board fails to address declining enrollment. They do not adjust spending or ensure that competitive academic programs are in place to retain students. A reactive board waits until a school building is critically under-enrolled and structurally failing. They then vote to close the neighborhood school with only a few months’ notice, causing chaotic rezonings, longer bus routes, and local protests. A reactive board spends hours and hours (in addition to a lot of legal fees) trying to keep a charter conversion from happening.  

Instead of getting bogged down in sweeping societal debates, a School Board must focus squarely on identifying why local schools are struggling and executing a concrete plan to fix them. We need board members whose beliefs reflect this. 

Regardless of my current detachment, I understand the weight of a single vote and will cast mine on August 18th. I intend to vote for Janine Plavac (District 1). A consistent voice of reason, she arrives at every meeting fully prepared, never hesitating to ask tough questions and probe until she gets answers.  Despite the demands of a full-time job, she knows from her decades of classroom experience the value of a strong education. It is a unique challenge to sit on a board where peers judge an appointment rather than the unmatched qualifications that she brings to the table, but she handles it with class.  

My vote for District 3 will be for Mr. Pelham. There are no accomplishments that Sarah Rockwell can take credit for during her four years on the School Board.  Her focus has been on societal issues that have minimal impact on the learning that should be taking place in the classrooms. She boasts about a 5-point reduction in the literacy gap and a 14-point gain for black students, but this carefully hides the reality of how abysmally low those proficiency numbers still are.

Shaking off indifference and voting is how we fix our schools. A united community forces the School Board to prioritize students over politics. Remind your friends, family, and neighbors to vote on August 18th!

Kay Abbitt, Gainesville

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