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Address to GOP Spring Rally, Host Lee County Republican Executive Committee.  Lakes Park Fort Myers FL. Sunday , May 7, 2000

Delivered to the Southwest Florida Federated Republican Women

 Address to GOP Spring Rally:
Host Lee County Republican Executive Committee
Lakes Park, Fort Myers FL
Sunday, May 7, 2000

Good Afternoon! Thank you so much for giving all of the candidates the opportunity to come before you today and speak.

I would like to tell you a little about myself. I am a veteran educator of twenty-four years and have dedicated these years to public education. I have been a parent , an administrator and a teacher. What separates me form the rest of the candidates is I am still a teacher. I am presently on staff at Riverdale High School where I teach Law Studies , Court Procedures and American History. I will bring with me to this board a wealth of information and experience.

I want to improve the communication between the board and the community. I will have an open door policy and all constituents will be encouraged to let me know of their concerns. I say all constituents because since I have to run a county wide election I will consider all of Lee County my constituents.

I have two areas that I will focus on when I am elected. The first being to raise salaries of the teachers. We need to retain our good teachers and prevent them from wanting to leave our county and go to the north or the south of us. The next area of focus would be to reduce class size. Just this morning, in the local paper there was an article about a recent study involving class size. Evidence shows that students in smaller classes do better in reading , math and score higher on standardized test. Anything that gets in the way of these two focus areas; that takes dollars away from these areas will have to be evaluated carefully to see if it is in the best interest of all students. I want to be your candidate , I urge you to vote for me on September 5.

Speech Delivered to the
Southwest Florida Federated Republican Women
Monday, June 5, 2000

Good Afternoon! I would like to thank you for hosting this luncheon today to give all of the candidates the opportunity to come before you and speak today.

I would like to tell you a little about myself and let you know why I have thrown my hat into the political ring. I have been in education for 24 years, with the last eleven of those years in Lee County. I have been a parent, teacher and an administrator. What separates me from my opponents is.......... I am an educator and currently teach at one of the local high schools. I bring with me to the table a wealth of information, from being on the front lines of education, to working with parents and district level personnel.

Our school board needs a new direction where the entire community again can have a voice in the policy and decision making that affect our schools. I am committed to this community and to the improvement of the schools in Lee County. My pledge to you is that I will have an open line of communication with the students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the tax payers of Lee County.

I want to work with the board to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and we work together to address the issue of quality education. All of us have a stake in the "end product"—educated students--of our schools. They will be the future leaders, business people and the backbone of our community. The investment we make today will be fruitful for the future of our community.

When I am elected there will be two main areas that I will focus on.

The first being to develop incentives to attract, retain and promote the professional educators of Lee County. All the employees of the Lee County School District are the backbone of the organization and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I will respect these professionals and their concerns. I will do this through improved communication . I will be in the schools on a daily basis. I will answer all phone calls and e - mails personally. As a member of the school board this will be my full time job.

The second area of focus will be to put a true cap size on all classes. Every day I hear from teachers that say I am glad you want to cap class sizes.

Currently when class sizes are published, and numbers show at this school site the average class size is 26.5 , the true size could be as high as 40 plus students per class. This is because when the figuring is done all teacher units at the school are counted which includes the librarian, the tech specialist, the guidance counselors, the computer lab teacher and the list goes on, and then total student population is then divided by all of these units. In many states caps on class sizes already exist. We are a progressive state and we need to implement a class size cap also.

I do hope that I can count on you support because I do want to make a difference in the public schools of Lee County.  Again thank you for the opportunity to come before you today it has been a pleasure to be here.