Key Largo resident and captain Chelyn Shaw recently filed to run for Monroe County School Board District 5 seat, challenging incumbent Dr. Sue Woltanski in the upcoming election on Aug. 18
A mother of three and grandmother of seven, Shaw has called Key Largo home for 21 years, though her time in the Keys began well before she became a full-time resident. She noted her family first bought property in the Keys in 1946.
She fondly remembers diving the Spiegel when it was first sunk in 2002. But her affinity for the water actually began in Texas. She sold her dive shop there, making the permanent move to the Keys in 2005 to start looking for the perfect boat. Meanwhile, she enjoyed teaching scuba as a local scuba instructor for a number of years until starting her charter and yacht delivery business in 2010. Shaw holds a 200-ton U.S. Coast Guard license and, preferring staying closer to home these days, she specializes in yacht and estate management.
Shaw also served on the Key Largo Volunteer Fire Department many years as a member of the water emergency team (WET), taking to the ocean to look for everything from persons, vehicles, divers and boats to even searching for weapons used in criminal cases.
She currently serves in elected roles as vice president of the Upper Keys Republican Club and Committeewoman for the Republican Executive Committee of Monroe County.
Shaw states that she is dedicated to bringing commonsense, Conservative Christian values to steer the direction of education in the school district to benefit children, their families, educators and the Monroe County community as a whole.
“With over six years of higher education in engineering and business administration and successful business ownership, I bring a unique blend of technical and administrative expertise to a board that, I believe, desperately needs it,” she said.
Besides teaching the science of diving, scuba, and First Aid/CPR, Shaw also previously taught as adjunct faculty at her local university, she instructed the Boy Scouts for many seasons at Abaco High Adventure Seabase. And she currently teaches Sunday school at a prominent local church in Key Largo.
“I’ve been teaching Sunday school since my eldest daughter was 5 years old,” she said. “It is because of my love for children that I am fiercely protective of them that I will guard your parental authority and family, and ensure that Monroe County schools remain a place of learning. Because school is not a place for activism or personal agendas.
“While extra counselors and social workers may be helpful, they are not suitable replacements for parental authority and family in your children’s lives,” she continued. Shaw believes parents are the primary authority, not elected school board members, not schools and not government.
Shaw said the upcoming election for Monroe County District 5 presents a clear distinction between two “fundamentally different directions for the schools.”
“As educational funds for the county are allocated/ assigned on a per child basis, the school board should want for each child what best meets each child’s needs, whether a child’s education funds follow them to public, charter, private, montessori, online, or home school,” she said.
Shaw says she is not against public school at all, though competition encourages a better product. But she will, in fact, advocate for more competitive pay for teachers and support a merit-based “promote from within” compensation model to ensure that the best and brightest educators can afford to make Monroe county their permanent home.
Shaw said she will provide skilled financial stewardship and lawful governance.
“On Aug. 18, you have the power to demand a true public servant. If you want a fiscal conservative who believes in communication, transparency and parental authority, I will be a bridge between families and the district. I am your candidate, “Shaw said.More information is at shaw4kids.com and Facebook Chelyn Shaw for Monroe County Schools.
