Incumbent Sue Woltanski seeks reelection to the Monroe County School District 5 seat against newcomer Alexandria Suarez. With the race nonpartisan, all voters will be able to pick between the two candidates during the Aug. 23 primary.
Woltanski believes that the public schools are “one of our community’s greatest public assets and they are most successful when we all work together for them. Our community, time and time again, demonstrates tremendous support for our schools and our children.”
A parent and former teacher, Suarez said she understands the importance of having a voice when it comes to a child’s education.
KEYS WEEKLY ASKED THE CANDIDATES:
- Are Monroe County schools providing enough safety & security to its students and adequate communication to parents when issues arise? Why or why not?
- What proposal would you bring forth to better attract and retain teachers in the Keys?
SUE WOLTANSKI
School board member, retired pediatrician, public education advocate
- In today’s world, we should never stop focusing on school safety and security. As a board, we have made this a top priority. We are fortunate in Monroe County in that we have a Sheriff, Rick Ramsay, who is actively and diligently involved and concerned with school safety. We must continue to work closely with Sheriff Ramsay, and the Key West Police Department, to ensure school safety. Recent events at Coral Shores highlighted the need for a better crisis communication plan, involving not only district staff but the community as a whole. The safety and security of our schools will require everyone’s attention. A rumor, which was fully investigated and found to be unfounded by law enforcement and school administration, spread on social media and created a panic. Despite the constant reminders to students of “See something, say something,” the rumors swirled on social media and in chat groups without reporting to authorities. Computer glitches kept a scheduled robocall from reaching families with current information. I requested a review of our crisis communication plans at the June 14, 2022 School Board meeting, to address the recent CSHS event and ensure such confusion doesn’t happen again.
- The teacher shortage, combined with the affordable housing crisis, will be the biggest challenge for Monroe Schools moving forward. Our kids need great teachers in their classrooms. We must continue to invest in teacher compensation and work with local communities to develop affordable housing. Affordable housing, alone, is not the answer because teacher shortages are also occurring in areas where housing is not an issue. Our teachers need to be able to afford to live here but they also must want to stay in the classroom. We need to focus on treating the teaching profession with respect. Monroe needs to become the best place for teachers to practice their craft. We must trust our teachers to use their professionalism and expertise to teach what our students need to know to succeed. Teachers need to feel less micromanaged and free to innovate and use their creativity to engage students. And we need to stop denigrating them. When politicians bash our teachers with political talking points, it hurts our efforts to retain teachers and makes finding new teachers even harder. We must all work to bring respect back to our discourse and stop those who are insulting teachers and maligning our schools.
ALEXANDRIA SUAREZ
Monroe County Assistant State Attorney
- Generally, Monroe County schools are safe for students and staff but, in the Upper Keys, we learned in May that there is inadequate parental communication in the event of an emergency when Coral Shores High School received a threat and parents found out about it through social media instead of immediate contact from the school administration. Thankfully, the threat turned out to be unsubstantiated but the district must do a better job of altering parents in the event of an emergency. There is no greater asset than our children so school safety and timely communications with parents are issues that need to be a priority. Unlike the other candidate who voted for funding development over strengthening our schools, school safety and security is of equal importance to me when tackling school district issues.
- As a former teacher who was forced to leave the profession because I could not afford it, I know there are numerous ways to attract and retain quality teachers. First, supporting teacher well-being, teacher engagement (opportunities in and outside the classroom), creating a supportive school climate and monitoring teacher attrition are all cost-free ways to make the Keys school district an attractive place to be an educator. We should reduce the cost of living for teachers while increasing teacher pay. I would advocate for lowering health insurance rates for dependents and better discounts for home or auto insurance. Workforce housing is already in the works but, now, we should work with legislators for possible tax benefits, healthy pensions and any exemptions for teachers. Where available, the district could offer onsite child or after school care. The district should continue to reach out to the private sector like retailers willing to offer discounts or supplies during the year so teachers do not have to reach into their own pockets for school-related items like pencil sharpeners or copy paper to properly do their job.
