Stokes, Hopes face off

With the ousting of School Board member John Colon during the August primary, change is on the horizon for the School Board of Manatee County.

School Board District 4 incumbent Scott Hopes faces off against Joe Stokes, a former school district principal and administrator who retired 2016.

Stokes pulled the majority of votes in the primary with 35.9% of the vote compared with Hopes’ 27.7%. Fellow candidates Richard Murphy and Jim Daniel each earned less than 20% of the vote.

Stokes, who has a grassroots campaign filled with support from many current and retired educators, said he’s been focusing his campaign efforts on social media. His focus is bringing unity to the board and finding ways to attract and retain teachers, bus drivers and other positions for which the district has vacancies.

“I still think there’s a leadership issue with the board,” Stokes said. “I do claim to be a servant leader. I think what other people have to say is very important. The board has to be very careful in that its authority is when the board meets.”

He said to address the teacher shortage — the district has about 60 unfilled positions — the district needs to implement a districtwide teacher mentoring program  and be open to “out of the box” thinking, like giving veteran teachers from other states the option for higher pay on the district’s pay scale. Currently, they can only start at a salary of a teacher with eight years of district experience.

“When you are short teachers, maybe you change policy,” Stokes said.

Stokes said he wants to pursue having trained Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies, called school resource officers, at every school, to improve security. Guardians, trained security officers employed by the school district, are doing a good job, but do not have arrest powers.

He also said selecting a new superintendent will be a critical issue in the future.

Hopes, who was appointed to the post in 2017 by Gov. Rick Scott, said his message is he has the business acumen the board needs to continue making progress, and he will be the only businessman on the board, if re-elected. He said many of the issues Stokes is prioritizing has already been addressed by the board. For example, the board has undergone master board certification, a yearlong training on communication, collaboration and team building. The guardians are doing a good job and the board has a plan in place to replace some of those with armed officers, he said.

Hopes said developing a strategic plan for the district is a top priority for him.

“I have substantial experience in overseeing that,” Hopes said. “We’re opening three schools next August. We really need an operation and financial plan and a capital plan, given the rapid growth of the district. We have a lot of work to do.”

Hopes said the district must focus on how it will fill its need for teachers and empower teachers by creating a district culture in which every employee, whether a janitor or accountant, understands his role is ultimately to support teachers in the classroom. He also wants to see schools open in the summertime so struggling children do not have a summer learning gap and fall behind. 

“We are all in a place to provide the support in the classroom,” Hopes said. “We have a ways to go to get to a level of efficiencies and effectiveness so we can redirect as many dollars to the classroom.”