Broward school board elects chair unanimously; Miami-Dade chooses along party lines

Miami-Dade and Broward school boards swore in new and current board members and voted for their chairs and vice chairs on Tuesday.

In Miami-Dade, it was clear that once again school board members would vote in alignment with their party affiliation. The nine member board is again composed of five Republican members, and four Democratic-leaning members.

In Broward, the school board has no DeSantis appointees after Daniel Foganholi and Torey Alston lost their races. The board is now overwhelmingly Democratic, with only one member tending to vote conservatively.

Miami-Dade keeps the status quo

In Miami-Dade Mari Tere Rojas of District 6 was re-elected chair by the majority of school board members. She has served as chair of the board since 2022 and got votes from members Monica Colucci, Roberto Alonso, Mary Blanco, Danny Espino, and she voted for herself. School board members Luisa Santos, Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall and Joe Geller voted for Steve Gallon, school board member of District 1, who also voted for himself.

Rojas often speaks about how board members can respectfully agree to disagree, and mentioned this once more during her acceptance speech.

“There is more that unites us than divides us,” she said, a common refrain.

“We are a family,” she added. “It has truly been a blessing to work with all of you, you have made a difference, and you have made this job easier.”

For vice chair, the vote was split the same way with the same five conservative members of the board voting for Monica Colucci, board member for District 8. The four Democratic-leaning members voted for Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall of District 2, the longest serving member of the board.

Earlier in the day, all of the board members were sworn into their seats—each of them standing alongside their family members as they pledged to serve the students of the district and the constitution of the United States and of Florida. District 3’s Joe Geller is the only new face on the school board. He defeated Martin Karp, who helps lead a consortium of private Jewish schools, in a runoff for the spot that was vacated by Lucia Baez-Geller, who quit the school board to run unsuccessfully against Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar. Mary Blanco, a DeSantis appointee, earned her seat in District 7 in a runoff.

Later in the meeting, many board members gave lengthy speeches thanking their mentors along the way and pledging to provide a better life for students.

Luisa Santos of District 9 spoke about finding out she was undocumented when she was in high school—and how education changed her life for the better.

Mary Blanco of District 7 thanked her children for encouraging her to take a risk and run for re-election, and Steve Gallon of District 1 spoke about how educators in Miami-Dade encouraged him as a young Black man to work hard and take on leadership positions from a young age.

Broward schools purged of DeSantis appointees

The Broward County School Board unanimously voted on Tuesday to name Debra Hixon as its chair. Board members elected Sarah Leonardi as vice chair eight to one, with only Brenda Fam dissenting.

The chair and vice chair picks were made following the swearing in ceremony for newly elected and re-elected board members who pledged to focus less on political squabbles and more on students’ needs. The re-elected members include Hixon, Leonardi and Jeff Holness. The new board members are Maura Bulman and Rebecca Thompson.

“I’m really looking forward to working with all of you to make sure we not only remain an ‘A’ [rated school district] but maybe we have no ‘C’ schools in the upcoming year,” Hixon said.

During the ceremony at Dillard 6-12 in Fort Lauderdale, board members thanked their families and supporters, highlighted their goals for the upcoming term and commented on the divisive political climate that has impacted Broward’s school district in recent years.

This years’ elections may have marked the end of what some believed to be a politically chaotic time for the school board as members sparred over “culture war” issues, like book bans and LGBTQ-inclusive policies. Two of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Republican appointees to the board, Daniel Foganholi and Torey Alston, lost their bids to retain their seats during the Aug. 20 election. It’s the first time in over two years that no DeSantis appointees sit on the board.

Alston lost the District 2 seat to Thompson, a former social worker. In the District 1 race, Foganholi placed third, losing to Bulman, a lawyer. (Days after Foganholi’s loss, DeSantis appointed him to the State Board of Education, a rare promotion that gives Foganholi oversight over K-12 education policies across the state.)

Eight of the nine board members are Democrats, securing a left leaning school board that reflects Broward County’s status as the only solid Democratic bastion in South Florida. Fam is the board’s only Republican.

Leonardi commented on political division the most during her remarks, encouraging the board to engage in healthy debate. She said it is unsustainable for people of different beliefs to “talk past each other” instead of talking to each other.

“At a time of division, we can be the ones people look to for unity, and a county is big and diverse as Broward, we can set an example for the entire country of how we can exchange ideas and work toward the truth in a way that speaks to our complicated past, our messy present and our hopeful and uncertain future,” she said. “I believe in the staff, the teachers, the leaders, the parents, and most importantly, the students of this county.”

Thompson shared similar sentiments in her speech. The local school board election races were about more than the candidates on the ballot, she said. “It was about what public education means to all of Broward County.” Thompson was introduced by Landyn Spellberg, the school board student advisor who thanked her for prioritizing students’ concerns.

“We must all commit to ensuring that every student feels like they belong in our district, no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, no matter what they believe, no matter who they love and no matter how they learn,” Thompson said. “They belong in Broward County.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 4:29 PM.