Tag: Hunt Berryman

If you doubt this campaign is making a major difference, if you doubt that they hear us in Tallahassee as well as Bartow, listen to Adam Putnam. The likely Republican nominee for governor in 2018 had this to say very recently at the Florida Chamber of Commerce Future of Florida Forum. “We have begun to lose the support of the…

Adversity reveals character. Over the last six months, I’ve used deeply researched, substantive critiques to hold Hunt Berryman to account for his performance as a School Board member and leader. I beat him by 10 percentage points in August’s primary race. I won 90 percent of precincts across the county. Hunt has responded to this adversity by adopting many of…

My incumbent opponent just gave himself $50,000 so that he can run attack ads and mailers against me for the rest of the election. If you’re counting at home, that means he’s “raised” a grand total of about $124,000 (about $60k of it his own money) for a job that he does not even want to do, if his performance is…

I saw a beautiful thing Monday night. It reinforced my strong belief in aligning our school leadership with distinct communities through their high school feeder systems. I was walking the greater Winter Haven community’s homecoming parade with a crew of FFA students and J.V. football players.  I love teenagers — with their armor of cool struggling to cover their vulnerability….

Tuesday night at the Farm Bureau political forum and dinner, my incumbent opponent actually said this: “I will fight for teachers.” Really. A declarative sentence. I’m willing to bet those words have never before come out of his mouth. I’ve certainly never heard anything close to that from him. I welcome him to the fight. But it’s quite the evolution….

I received this Facebook note earlier this week from an Algebra and liberal arts math teacher at a Polk high school. 5 of the 6 classes I teach Have 30 or more students in them. My liberal arts classes have 31 & 32 students in them. My largest algebra 2 class has 32 in it. I have been told not…

Forget the politics of the School Board race for just a moment. If you’re a taxpaying citizen with a conscience, you need to know about what’s happening within the Stigmatized 5 schools. In the last 48 hours, I have been overwhelmed by angry messages, pleas for help, and general lamentation from a host of terrified people who may or may…

The Polk School District has at least two major ongoing crises — in addition to our ongoing general crisis of public leadership and teacher shortages. These emergent crises are: The staffing and future of the five stigmatized middle schools that have been under Tony Bellamy’s failed direction. Those five schools have a combined 39 open teaching positions, according to the…

By my count, the four stigmatized Winter Haven schools, plus McLaughlin in Lake Wales, have had a total of 18 principals since 2012, when my incumbent opponent took office. Feel free to count for yourself if you want to verify. I’ve posted below the report the district sent me. It’s what death looks like for learning community leadership. It’s what…

The Lakeland Chamber’s “Business Voice” Political Action Committee (PAC) is about to start interviewing candidates for its endorsement. I’m scheduled for Tuesday. The Polk County Builders Association (PCBA) PAC is doing the same thing next week. It’s highly unlikely I’ll get either endorsement. My incumbent opponent Hunt Berryman has deep business and personal ties with both organizations. Bank of Central…