Nearly 100 people packed into the fellowship hall of New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in northwest Lakeland Tuesday evening to listen to the six candidates vying for three seats on the Polk County School Board.
While School Board members come from different areas in the district, they represent the entire county. These races will be decided on Aug. 20.
The forum was hosted by several nonpartisan groups: the Polk County chapter of the League of Women Voters, the NAACP Lakeland Branch, the Polk County Voters League and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.’s Omicron Kappa Omega chapter.
Meet the candidates
The six candidates introduced themselves:
District 1
William Allen, 49, is the incumbent. He grew up in Bartow and is a graduate of Bartow High School. He worked in a sheet metal factory before going through what he calls a spiritual transformation when he was 22, deciding then to pursue higher education. He holds a Ph.D. and teaches at Florida Southern College.
“I believe that education is a pillar of hope, and it was for me, and we can extend that to all 117,000 students within the county,” Allen said.
Bernnie Brandt, 34, grew up in Winter Haven and now lives in Lakeland. He is the adopted son of a retired nurse and teacher and the father of a 1-year-old. He studied criminal justice at Tallahassee State College and has worked as a corrections officer and in the security, solid waste and hospitality fields.
“I didn’t really have an interest in any sort of politics until my wife and I had our first child last spring, and I realized that I needed to be more invested — not only in my child’s future, but in the future of everyone’s children.
District 2
There is no incumbent in this race.
Travis Keyes, 41, was born in Polk County, graduated from Haines City High School, is married and has two daughters who attend Polk County public schools. He holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and a master’s in science and leadership. He currently serves on the school district’s Finance and Audit Committee as its chairman. He is a relationship manager at South State Bank.
“The big things that I’m about is school safety, making sure you retain and attract the best educational personnel, making sure we have financial accountability and responsibility,” Keyes said.
Marcus Wright Jr., 25, grew up in Haines City and graduated from Summerlin Military Academy in Bartow and Bethune Cookman University. He currently works as a director of development at Talbot House Ministries. Previously, he held various roles at Polk County Public Schools district office.
“My main platform is strengthening our relationship between our community and our school district, faculty and staff,” Wright said, adding that workplace morale in the district is also a concern.
District 4
Sara Beth Wyatt, 31, is the incumbent. She graduated from Winter Haven High School and the University of Florida. She served as chair of the School Board for several years and serves on multiple boards throughout the county. She and her husband had a son last year.
“I was running into a lot of red tape in Polk County Public Schools, so I was complaining to my parents about it quite a bit at Friday night dinners, and my dad finally looked at me and said, ‘Listen, you can shut up or do something about it, but we’re not talking about this every week.’ So I decided to run for school board,” Wyatt said. “It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Rebekah Ricks, 44, was born in Oklahoma, raised in New York and is married to a third-generation Polk County native. She holds a bachelor’s degree in advanced math from Oklahoma Baptist College. Her campaign website says she has been an educator since 2001. She said during the forum that she has worked as an Algebra II teacher. Her campaign page says she has “over a decade of private school teaching.”
“I am a proponent of choice,” she said, saying that special education programs should be brought to more public schools. “If we could do that across the board and have more schools that offer those choices and those options to parents.”
Questions and answers
The moderator asked several questions prepared by a committee and then posed others suggested by the audience. Click below to see a summary of the candidates’ responses.
Q1: What specific goals do you hope to accomplish?
District 1
Allen said his goal is for Polk County to be the top district in the state. He wants to focus on students’ success, whether they are pursuing college or an industry-based certification. He also wants all students to have access to advanced courses like International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement and Cambridge programs.
Brandt wants the district to be transparent and responsible for how tax dollars are spent and to make Polk County schools more welcoming, exciting, accepting and inclusive than they are today for students and staff. He wants everyone to feel welcome to speak to the School Board and change the mentality from a board that governs to a board that works with people.
District 2
Keyes wants to concentrate on school safety through guardians and good design of school buildings. He also wants to provide enough mental health counselors to students and staff, hold the district accountable for its financial responsibilities, attract and retain the best teachers and staff by increasing salaries, and provide the best educational choices and opportunities for students.
Wright wants to strengthen the relationship between communities and the school district by understanding communities and their needs, ensuring that top programs like IB, Cambridge and arts programs have feeder schools beginning in elementary school, improving faculty morale by raising salaries and letting teachers know they are loved and appreciated.
District 4
Wyatt wants to make every school a destination school with specialized offerings so students don’t have to commute across the county for arts or science programs. She said all high schools should offer advanced classes. She also praised community partnerships like a pilot program in Winter Haven that connects businesses and volunteers with schools, ensuring that students are exposed to technology and know how to use it, but also know how to talk to people in person.
Ricks wants to see special education programs for developmentally and physically disabled students throughout the county, not just in a few areas. She also wants to offer more school choices to parents and students, get back to the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, bring up student test scores and focus on truancy to improve student performance.
Q2: How would you advocate for Polk County Public Schools staff and students in Tallahassee?
District 1
Allen said he has invited local and state lawmakers to visit schools with him, and has maintained relationships with lawmakers to help secure additional funding and grants for PCPS.
Brandt said he would develop a back-and-forth pipeline between lawmakers and the community to determine what parents want, ensure lawmakers understand the district’s wants and needs and maintain a revolving line of communication.
District 2
Keyes said he would use his skills as a bank relationship manager, his longtime community service and his already-established relationships with Polk’s entire legislative delegation to leverage positive outcomes for PCPS.
Wright plans to use his lobbying experience in Tallahassee to explain PCPS’ and the community’s needs to lawmakers. He said he has recently lobbied for voluntary pre-kindergarten programs and raising the federal poverty level to help with affordable housing.
District 4
Wyatt said she would continue using her lobbying experience on behalf of PCPS. Her success includes securing increased per-pupil funding for PCPS and taking business leaders to Tallahassee to help explain the economic impacts of quality education. She would advocate for policies to better serve students, including ensuring that teachers are not moved out of classrooms within the first weeks of school because of low performance scores.
Ricks also plans to use her lobbying and legislative experience, which she said includes ensuring that 3-year-olds could receive special education funding if needed, even if their birthday fell beyond the previous Sept. 2 cutoff date, and including math in New World scholarship funding to pay for programs and materials designed to boost skills. She also wants to ensure that legislators understand the effects of proposed laws so unintended consequences don’t occur.
Q3: How will you work to address salary compression for experienced teachers? (Starting teachers have been earning as much as those with up to 13 years of experience)
District 1
Allen and the current school board have actively worked to ensure teachers with two to 13 years of experience would see their salaries increase beyond that of a starting teacher — $47,500, a number mandated by the state. He also worked to increase programs to help teachers pay for graduate degrees and increase the bonuses those teachers get each year. For example, someone with a Ph.D. can earn an additional $6,700 annually.
Brandt said he wants an election referendum to increase the property tax millage rate slightly to raise teacher pay. He pointed out that Hillsborough County will be voting on such a measure in November. If it passes, it would add $180 million to the school district’s coffers earmarked for teacher and staff raises.
District 2
Keyes said he wants to stop “gross injustice” of low teacher pay, saying he made more in a job as a high school senior than his mother did as a long-time teacher. He also wants to see professionals who transition into teaching get credit for at least some years of real-world experience in calculating their salaries. Currently, only teaching experience counts toward teacher salaries. He recommended an efficiency review of the district budget to ensure correct expenditures, although the district budget is audited each year, in the hope of moving money to salaries.
Wright wants to mandate that those working in schools or directly with students receive raises before anyone in district offices does. He also said it’s imperative that teachers have the resources they need to do their jobs. He would lobby the legislative delegation to increase funding for PCPS and “give us what we deserve for our teachers.”
District 4
Wyatt: As School Board chairman, she has pushed for increased funding to bring up salaries for experienced teachers two years ahead of the original schedule. In order to attract teachers, she wants to see the district do a better job of advertising zero-cost insurance benefits — the district covers all costs for teacher health insurance. She also wants to ensure that children are not bused out of their neighborhoods to other schools and she wants to explore a referendum to help increase salaries, saying Polk is one of the few school districts in the state that does not have an additional mill for every $1,000 a property is worth.
Ricks said most teachers work for the children, not the pay, but over time they feel taken advantage of. She said Gov. Ron DeSantis has increased teacher pay, but for Polk County to be competitive, it needs more funding. At the current pace, it will take a decade to reach the level teachers deserve. She wants to see the unions continue to work for increased pay.
Q4: What involvement have you had with Polk County Public Schools? What committees have you served on?
District 1
Allen has served on the Junior Achievement board, bringing the “This Town” financial literacy program to Polk’s fourth graders. He has also served on the Polk Education Foundation, the Crystal Lake Elementary School cabinet, the Federal Advocacy Committee and the Artificial Intelligence Task Force.
Brandt has officiated high school baseball, basketball and softball games since he was 18. He wanted to volunteer more last year, but had to deal with medical complications with his son. He plans to become more involved in schools.
District 2
Keyes is currently second chair of the PCPS Audit and Finance Committee, co-chair of the Attendance Boundary Committee, which he has served on since its inception, a member of the Northeast Polk Chamber of Commerce, a co-chair of the Youth Leadership Committee and president of the Rotary Club. He was appointed recently to the Heart of Florida Education Foundation and teaches financial literacy to middle school students.
Wright started as a volunteer at Polk County Public Schools in high school, which turned into a full-time job after college. He became an associate technician in IT within the PCPS workforce education department. He was a special projects coordinator, helping to plan all PCPS graduations and helping to coordinate virtual School Board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also on the board of the Davenport High School Freshman Academy, Winter Haven Public Education Partnership, chair of the Youth Leadership Local Advisory Council and was a representative on the superintendent search committee.
District 4
Wyatt serves on multiple boards, some of which are part of her duties as a school board member. They include: the Value Adjustment Board, Polk Vision board of directors and seven of its education committees, the Junior Achievement board. She served as a judge for the 3DE competition at Tenoroc High School, the Polk Education Foundation Board, the executive board for Winter Haven Public Education Partnership, the Arts Council for the city of Winter Haven, development director at Theater Winter Haven, and helped establish a story-telling program for elementary school students.
Ricks serves on the State Board of Music Education, which oversees all music programs in Florida. She added that she taught in Polk, began a tutoring business, and performed volunteer tutoring. Although she didn’t mention it during the forum, Ricks campaign page shows she has served on multiple other boards, including chairman of Florida Parent Educators Association Foundation, president and co-founder of The Coalition of Mothers, vice president and co-founder of The Alliance of Mothers, legislative team lead of The America Project, former president of Florida Moms for America, Republican Women of Greater Polk, founder of Moms for Medical Freedom, founder and administrator of The Homeschool Connection, and former secretary and treasurer of Polk County Republican Executive Committee.
Q5: Are you familiar with the school district’s current process for reviewing challenged books and other curriculum materials? What changes or improvements, if any, would you propose?
District 1
Allen pointed out the PCPS book review policy has been around for decades, but it is a slow process, with challenges handled at the school level by a panel. If the school panel’s decision is appealed, it is reviewed by a district committee, whose decision is final. He advocated and succeeded in getting the superintendent to change the district’s software that tracks library books and student use. He said parents can work with teachers to ensure that books children are reading are age-appropriate.
Brandt said it is the family’s responsibility to monitor reading materials, but one parent’s decision about what their child can read should not affect the rights of other parents and children. He said the district needs to give parents easy access to reading lists and more control to opt out of certain texts. He also wants more definitive criteria about what is appropriate.
District 2
Keyes said even if the district has a policy, it means nothing if it’s not working. He said he has talked with numerous parents who haeve told him that after the district-implemented parent review period of library books, they are locked out of the system. He said he has never been able to access the system himself. He said if parents had full-time access, it would solve a lot of problems with books being protested.
Wright said the community needs to put more trust in the librarians, who have been trained and educated about what is appropriate for children. He said parents should be monitoring what their children are reading and should be utilizing the district’s opt-out system to ensure their child is reading what the parent wants them to read.
District 4
Wyatt said the system that the district has had in place for decades has worked so well that Superintendent Fred Heid has been called to Tallahassee to testify about the process, which is now the recommendation for the entire state. She said when books are appealed, they go through a second round of review and the superintendet then recommends the fate of the books to the board. She said most of the books complained about this year have been returned to library shelves, but several have been removed. Wyatt was one of four School Board members to uphold use of the opt-out system in 2022.
Ricks complained that the School Board has not voted on a single controversial book because no book has ever been brought before the board for a vote. She complained that the process has taken two and half years to reach a conclusion from the first complain in January 2022. She added that the system doesn’t work because the School Board has never had to say if a book should remain or be removed.
Q6: Are you in favor of Polk County Schools establishing a school chaplain program?
District 1
Allen said he is a deeply spiritual person and is “not opposed” to the chaplain program, which is not state law. He said he personally meditates on God’s word day and night. He pointed out that faith-based organizations are already welcomed on campuses before the school day begins, but that clergy can’t proselytize.
Brandt said he watched the bill closely as it wound its way through the Legislature and disagreed with the removal of one amendment that would have specifically prevented religious leaders from proselytizing on campus, soliciting students to participate in religious activities or attend services. He said he is not opposed to having religion on campus, but there needs to be a barrier in place to prevent religious leaders trying to sway students of other faiths or making students feel uncomfortable.
District 2
Keyes: He said he bases his decisions on what the word of God says and that it is important for students’ whole-child development to involve spirituality. He said allowing access for all as they choose would be an effective measure for that.
Wright: He said he is a man of faith and he had pastors growing up who shaped him into the person he is today. He said anyone can go online and get a piece of paper that says they’re clergy, so there needs to be guidelines and background checks. He said a parent must approve of a clergy from another faith talking to their child.
District 4
Wyatt: She said there are already several policies in place that would apply to this, including having parents sign a waiver at the beginning of the school year, saying they approve of their child seeing a school chaplain and indicating which denomination they would be comfortable with. She added that it is the parent’s responsibility to discuss different denominations and different religions with their children. She also said any clergy participating must undergo a level II background check.
Ricks: She said she is the daughter and granddaughter of Baptist preachers and grew up going to church twice on Sundays and every Wednesday evening. She said everyone dealing with students must be vetted and that parental rights must be safeguarded with an opt-in policy.
Q7: Given the broad diversity in Polk County schools, how can we assure the safety of students who have atypical challenges or behaviors, such as autism or gender that doesn’t conform to socially defined male or female roles?
District 1
Allen said the agility of teachers to differentiate lessons for all students is impressive. He said part of the question is addressed in the district’s mental health policies and programs. That includes the Hazel Health telemedicine program, which can be used at school or at home by students and parents. He added that he was hesitant at first about the program but has seen the good it has done, particularly in that a parent can use telehealth services for mental health counseling with their child day or night.
Brandt said the issues brought up require a mental health professional, not just for students, but also for staff. He said it’s vital that students going through any kind of challenge have access to someone who is trained and has dedicated their life to understanding emotional and mental health.
District 2
Keyes also said trained personnel should be in every school and that students and parents should be made aware that those services are available to them. He added that if there are parents who are more involved and let district officials know about these issues, the issues can be addressed head on.
Wright said school and district officials need to make sure that students feel included because this is a changing generation. “We need to make sure that not only our students that are of our LGBTQ-plus community, but also our faculty and staff who are, that community feel welcome … At the end of the day, our job is to educate kids, no matter their race, their background, no matter how they identify. We still have to educate them. We still have to give them a quality education.” He said special education students and their parents need support.
District 4
Wyatt called on parents to partner with their child’s school and that both need to work together to advocate for what is best for the student. She pointed out that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed in the 1970s and was supposed to be funded by the federal government at 40%. It has never been funded anywhere near that level and is currently funded at only 14%. She said the district has seen more deaths of students and teachers this year than in recent memory and that district and school officials need to ensure that students and staff have the grief counseling services they need.
Ricks said the district needs to do more for special education students and provide more resources for those students and their parents. She pointed out that the entire family is forever affected when there is a special needs child in the home. She added that the state has been trying to mainstream disabled students with their peers in regular classrooms and it isn’t working. She pointed out that there is a Florida Parents Bill of Rights and there are a lot of things that can and can’t be done now. (That bill prohibits discussion of sexuality in schools.) She said there are people who will watch to make sure that their rights are taken care of. And while there are mental health counselors, parents must still approve for their child to talk to one.
Q8: How will you approach curriculum development to ensure it meets the needs of all students?
District 1
Allen said he looks at interventions for struggling students as something akin to the buffet at Fred’s Market — a smorgasbord of options. He said the district has done a really good job of implementing research-based interventions and talked about the excitement of principals when talking about the science of reading and corrective reading programs. He wants to see pipelines of specialized magnet programs starting in elementary schools so students interested, for instance, in the Digital Media Academy at Southwest Elementary School can progress to similar and more advanced programs at Southwest Middle School and then George Jenkins High School.
Brandt: He said a big issue with curriculum is that teachers, who are dedicated professionals in their craft, have been hamstrung by people at the Tallahassee level with not giving them the resources they need and the freedom to choose what materials are going to work best for not only their teaching style, but for the community and the group of students that they teach. He would like to see more lobbying done to Tallahassee to explain to them why their decisions to remove textbooks, remove other curriculum options, are hurting the students of every school district. He concluded that Tallahassee keeps chipping away at the materials available to teachers.
District 2
Keyes said the data provided through tests shows whether a particular curriculum is working or not. He said he, with a graduate-level education, was baffled by the fourth-grade math his daughter brought home, saying things had gotten much too complicated. He said he didn’t understand why she had to explain a math problem with a thesis in order for her answer to be considered correct.
Wright said schools need to return to basic teaching and differentiate for learning styles. He said he is a hands-on learner and will fall asleep if someone gives a lengthy video presentation. He and his mother have talked about the days when teachers had the flexibility to teach how they wanted and in a way their students needed.
District 4
Wyatt talked about the 3DE program that Superintendent Fred Heid implemented at Tenoroc High School and the excitement of the students in learning. It incorporates real-world business situations into every level of learning at the school. She explained that they were challenged with UPS’ special Christmas program. In math class, they talked about salaries and benefits and how they worked together to create a pay package; in English class, they talked about the literature that was written in the ads that they created; and in their social studies class, they looked at the history of UPS and similar organizations.
Ricks said there is no one-size-fits-all curriculum, but allowing parents the option of choosing to send their child to a magnet, charter or private school could help different students who are different go to the school with the teacher that’s going to be a fit for them. She said it’s difficult for a teacher to do a lesson plan and have to teach it three different ways, because there’s three different learning styles in their class. “I think parents need to have that choice to realize this way isn’t working, let me try something else.” She said there are Montessori schools, which have a different style of teaching from public schools, and Robert’s Academy at Florida Southern College, which teaches students who are dyslexic. “We have all these options for other for other ways of learning.”
Q9: What will you do to further assist and support Black and Hispanic students as well as their families from our community?
District 1
Allen talked about the idea of workforce readiness and college readiness, but also looking at every racial and gender subcategory of test data to mine information to determine who is struggling and try to determine why. (The achievement gap between white, Black, Hispanic and Asian students has existed for decades.)
Brandt said it’s incredibly important to allow teachers to determine the best method to teach the students in their classroom. He would allow teachers in minority neighborhoods to teach in a culturally relevant way and be able to get materials they need to reach those students best. He would like to see more recruiting at historically Black colleges and universities to attract Black and Hispanic teachers, more programs involving mentorship and communities and a focus on keeping students in the schools that are in their backyard. “I think if we do all those things, we’ll see dramatic shift.”
District 2
Keyes said one of the most important things the district can do is have diversity of staff and that this diverse population of teachers and staff would be present and connected to the community, a frontline for students talking to community leaders and parents and making sure parents have access to those schools and to those educational leaders so their voices are heard.
Wright said, “I think we have to first realize that we, as a culture of people, we are totally different.” And he said, students must be taught in a way that recognizes those differences. He said sometimes children are seen as “talking back,” but that’s not always the case. “That’s not the child talking back, that’s how we express ourselves.” He said the district needs to do more training to help educators understand cultural nuances. “We’re not understood in how to communicate and how our families communicate,” he said. His comments were met with applause.
District 4
Wyatt said the district needs to reach families where they are. She gave as aan example the Pep Tutoring Center in the Florence Villa neighborhood in Winter Haven. She said there are seven blocks in that neighborhood that are zoned for seven different schools. She said parents who have to make a 45-minute round-trip to their child’s school are not going to be inclined to volunteer, especially if transportation is an issue. She said the district needs to make sure children are going to school as close to their home as possible. “They should not be prevented from going across the street from them.” In addition, the schools must work with communities to recruit tutors, including local churches, community groups or businesses that want to be involved.
Ricks pointed out that PCPS population is 30% Black and 30% Hispanic, but that the School Board doesn’t look that way, with no Hispanic representation at all. She also advocated for the School Board to have small meetings throughout the county because it’s such a long drive from the far-flung areas of the county to the district headquarters in Bartow.
This story has been corrected. Bernnie Brandt attended Tallahassee State College. He is also 34.
Watch the complete 90-minute forum
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Sara Beth is hard-working, knowledgeable, and accessible. Why would we want to replace her with a private school advocate?
I found it somewhat disingenuous that Ms. Ricks didn’t include where she has done her teaching; it would be easy for listeners to assume, incorrectly, that this experience is public school related.