Three women elected to Miami-Dade School Board, defeating former county commissioner

A majority of the Miami-Dade County School Board’s nine seats were up for grabs this year, and enthusiasm — and partisanship — surrounding the presidential election trickled down to the down-ballot races.

Now, three women will join the School Board.

Two incumbents whose seats were on the ballot, Steve Gallon and Lubby Navarro, stayed on. (Gallon faced no challengers and Navarro won a majority of votes in the primary.) That left three other seats on the ballot, and those incumbents said they would not seek another term.

After a tough and crowded primary, six candidates emerged to vie for the three open seats, making this election one of the most high-stakes School Board races in recent memory.

The most contested race was in District 9, with a David-and-Goliath matchup between Luisa Santos and Dennis Moss. Santos emerged as the most significant victor on Tuesday, overcoming a primary deficit to defeat Moss, a term-limited Miami-Dade county commissioner.

Among those who called it quits: Martin Karp, who represented the Northeast Miami-Dade down to the beaches and a sliver of downtown Miami for 16 years. Larry Feldman served the county’s southeast swath from Pinecrest to Goulds and Princeton west to Florida City for 12 years. And Susie Castillo, who persisted through the heartbreak after her daughter’s death to represent Doral and Miami Springs, said she was done after one four-year term.

New faces will make up a third of the School Board, the first time since 2016. The new candidates will be sworn in at the School Board’s organizational meeting at 10 a.m. on Nov. 17.

According to early results, three women will join the dais:

District 3: Lucia Baez-Geller

Money wasn’t enough to give Russ Rywell the edge over Lucia Baez-Geller.

In a showdown between two highly rated Miami Beach Senior High teachers, Baez-Geller, 37, took the lead in the primary and will be on the dais in two weeks. She won 61 percent of the vote.

Rywell, 56, a wealthy former financier who spent at least $300,000 of his own money on his campaign, eclipsed Baez-Geller in fundraising. Rywell ran a $500,000 campaign compared to Baez-Geller’s $90,000 raised.

On Tuesday night, Baez-Geller thanked her supporters.

“This is truly a testament to what a group of committed citizens can do with heart and soul and passion, and I’m so proud of every one of us in every way,” she said, thanking her “greatest supporters, the students who made it happen.”

Baez-Geller looked forward to her work on the dais.

“Right now we just want to make sure that everyone is safe, that everyone has the resources and transparency and clarity that we need to move forward in this pandemic right now and start building up,” she said.

Baez-Geller, whose husband is an aide to state Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Kendall, enjoyed the backing of the Democratic Party. Rywell was also endorsed by several local leaders.

Rywell said he called and conceded the race.

“I congratulate Lucia Baez-Geller on her victory, and I am happy that a fellow teacher will serve our district on the School Board,” Rywell said. “Rest assured, I will continue to work to improve the educational outcomes of all our students.”

District 5: Christi Fraga

Sixty votes in the August primary separated Christi Fraga and Mara Zapata.

Fraga, 33, not only kept, but grew that lead. She won about 56% of the vote on Tuesday.

“We are extremely grateful for the support of the community once again,” Fraga said, referring to her narrow primary win. “I am extremely excited to be able to represent the families of District 5 at the School Board. I think there is an opportunity to really make a difference and represent our parents, students, teachers and families.”

She said she looked forward to meeting with Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and departing incumbent Susie Castillo to pick up on her projects.

“We need to look at the opportunities for a new high school in the district,” Fraga said. “There’s a lot of things we are going to be looking at and bringing positive change to.”

Though School Board elections are nonpartisan, the race for this Doral and Miami Springs seat wasn’t.

Party lines were drawn between ice cream shop owner Fraga, a Republican with the party’s financial backing, and career educator Zapata, 61, a Democrat who recently stepped down as vice mayor of Miami Springs.

District 9: Luisa Santos

In the closest race of the night — and a shocking upset — political rookie Santos defeated career politician Moss, taking 52 percent of the vote to Moss’ 48 percent.

Santos is a 30-year-old ice cream shop owner who outpaced her opponents in the August election as a newcomer to make it to the November runoff.

“I am beyond hopeful for the future of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and beyond grateful for the hundreds of teachers, students, parents who got behind this movement and showed Miami-Dade that we can dream bigger and we can accomplish what many think is impossible,” Santos said.

Santos credited her win to a year of building an organization, complete with student and teacher advocates.

“We sent out half a million texts. Over 50,000 calls, knocked on thousands and thousands of doors,” Santos said. “[We] led with passion, led with issues.”

Moss, a term-limited Miami-Dade County commissioner with 27 years in that post, was tough to beat in this race. He was the top vote-getter in the August primary.

This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 10:41 PM.