School Board District 5 candidates sit down for parent-led interview

Potential school closings, student safety and school vouchers were among the issues candidates discussed at a recent School Board District 5 candidate meet and greet held at a July 20 candidate event at Myrle Ave. Brewing.

Organized by the Save Historic Schools Coalition, the event gave families the opportunity to meet and mingle with the district’s three candidates – Reginald Blount, Nahshon Nicks and Hank Rogers – before each candidate sat down for individual recorded interviews with Fishweir Elementary School parent Tiffani Bibb.

“My top priority is to fight to keep our local neighborhood public schools open,” said Nicks. “…I feel like they are holders of rich tradition, right history.”

Nicks also called for a need to highlight skilled services and other programming offered through DCPS, like speech, that may not be offered on a daily basis at schools outside the DCPS system.

“I want our families to know that DCPS should be the first option and not an alternative option.”

Blount echoed that sentiment, stating he is opposed to closing schools and citing the budget to be at the root of the problem.

“When you dive into the financial aspect, a lot of things haven’t been done right,” he said. “…It goes way back: This can has been kicked down the road for a long time.”

Blount said he would call for an independent statewide forensic audit of the last four years to help determine what led to the current state of the budget and where the board could “cut off the fat.”

“You can’t begin to fix it if you’re doing the same thing over and over,” Blount said. “Do a statewide audit, independent…to find out what are we doing. Are we overspending in contracts? Are we overspending in maintenance? That’s been a big one.”

Rogers reflected on the role the voucher program has played in the decision by some parents to opt out of traditional public schools and utilize other choices available to them for their children’s education, stating that it is “really draining” traditional public schools.

Rogers added that while these traditional neighborhood schools have “amazing” programming, more needs to be done to get the word out about what DCPS public schools have to offer.

“Unfortunately, we are not telling the story,” Rogers said. “We have to be about the business of aggressively marketing our schools…”

Each one-on-one interview was recorded and will be posted to YouTube and shared via the S.O.S. – Save Fishweir Elementary Facebook page.

The election for Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 will take place Aug. 20, with early voting occurring Aug. 5 to 18. Registered voters can visit www.duvalelections.com to find their designated voting precincts and early voting sites.