Dr. Sue Woltanski, Chair of the Monroe County School Board, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s happening in the district.
Veterans Day is a time for the district to teach children about patriotism.
Woltanski said, “I just found out this morning that school this schools are not necessarily closed on November 11. We do it because of we want to honor our veteran community so much. But it looks like almost half of the school districts in Florida are open today, but not Miami Dade and not us. Because we’re closed today, most of the celebrations in the schools happen on Friday. If you had been in any elementary school up or down the Keys, they all had singing performances and brought in their family members who are veterans, and we have a lot of staff that are veterans as well. Coral Shores High School brought in a former teacher who was a retired Army Specialist, Chuck Ellsworth, and he led the pledge, and then the band played the Star Spangled Banner, which was a special start to their day. It was just really up and down the Keys, a lot of celebrating our veteran community.”
Election Day saw very resounding affirmations of the two referendums that were on the ballot for the school district.
Woltanski said, “The school district cannot be more appreciative. to pass our millage that pays our teacher salaries by 82%, just demonstrates, really what we feel all the time, that this is a community that really supports its schools, and then the sales tax, which funds the construction, also passed by almost over two thirds through quarters of the vote, 72% I believe it was and that happened all across Florida. There were 22 districts went out for referendums. Four or five of them, like us, went out for two at the same time and one district, a small county up in North Florida, Gaston County, did not pass theirs. The rest were passed across to the board. So I think it’s really a good sign that communities are willing to pay for quality education for their students. We presented those in a general election, and the turnout was just huge. So that also makes us feel really good that fully reflects really the voting population.”
On November 19, school boards across the state will all have their organizational meeting, where new members will be seated.
Woltanski said, “We’ll be swearing in new members and we’ll be choosing new Chair and Vice Chair. I’ll likely be stepping down and we’ll be selecting some leaders for different committees and that sort of thing. We’re also going to be getting into full force, into something I think a lot of people have been looking for and that Mrs. Axford, her contract expires this summer, and I think she’s ready to be retired. She’s not asking for a renewal. So we’re going to be working with the Florida School Board Association, part of what they do is they help with Superintendent searches. So we’ll be starting the superintendent search. We’re going to be looking for the largest group of candidates that we can and through the school board associations across the country, they have a single platform where they can communicate with each other and send it out. So we will be able to get our notice out to superintendents all over the country in a pretty organized and quick way. So that process will involve, I think fairly soon, the school board, looking at the qualifications that we want for a new incoming superintendent. So you the listener, have ideas of what you would like to see. You can easily email the school board and let us know what you’re what you’re interested in having as a new superintendent, what you’d like to see in the leadership of the school district. We’re not limiting the search at all.”
Winter sports are starting in the district.
Woltanski said, “So basketball is back up. Soccer is back up. You can find those on the school websites and newspaper, but it’s always great to have a crowd at those games. We welcome everybody to come and see those events. It’s always impressive to see the talent that’s in the school district.”