Allen Zeman

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Allen Zeman

Nonpartisan

Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8

Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Donna Pilger Korn

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Florida State University, 1985

Ph.D

Florida State University, 1989

Personal

Birthplace

Gainesville, Fla.

Religion

Deist

Profession

Economist

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Allen Zeman is an at-large member of the Broward County Public Schools school board in Florida. He assumed office on November 22, 2022. His current term ends on November 17, 2026.

Zeman ran for election for an at-large seat of the Broward County Public Schools school board in Florida. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Zeman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Allen Zeman was born in Gainesville, Florida. He earned a bachelor's degree from Florida State University in 1985 and a Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1989. Zeman's career experience includes working as an economist, trainer and executive coach, consultant, and civil servant.

Elections

2022

See also: Broward County Public Schools, Florida, elections (2022)

General election

General election for Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8

Allen Zeman defeated Donna Pilger Korn in the general election for Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Allen Zeman (Nonpartisan)	51.4	243,630
		Donna Pilger Korn (Nonpartisan)	48.6	230,198

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 473,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8

Donna Pilger Korn and Allen Zeman defeated Raymond Adderly III and Mourice Hylton in the primary for Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donna Pilger Korn (Nonpartisan)	30.6	71,667
✔		Allen Zeman (Nonpartisan)	29.9	70,061
	Submit photo	Raymond Adderly III (Nonpartisan)	21.7	51,012
	Submit photo	Mourice Hylton (Nonpartisan)	17.8	41,844

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 234,584
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Escobar (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

To view Zeman's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Allen Zeman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Zeman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

It is part of my nature to serve others. I saw this daily in my family where my 

father worked for Broward County Public Schools for three decades. I saw this with my mother who taught for many years at Florida colleges and universities. I lived it with the choice to have seven children and be actively engaged with them. I experienced what it means to serve as a civilian working for the US Navy where I took the most demanding assignments and learned the hardships of being forward deployed, including living away from my family for one year in an active combat zone. I am the senior executive who has helped hundreds of Admirals and General Officers transition into their first assignments and then help them later in their careers, as they transition to civilian life. Service brings me joy while individual recognition feels shallow. Through multiple applications of servant leadership, I have led diverse teams that worked with diligence to attain significant, measurable outcomes. I’d like to serve as a member of the Broward County School Board to create a great school system that will serve as the model for Florida.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Education matters. For us to protect our democracy we need to have an educated population who can make informed decisions.
• Experience matters. To be on a board, you really need to have done things.
• Energy matters. An effective school board member needs to visit schools, attend events, do background reading, ask right questions, and otherwise engage with the school district..

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Allocating resources to primary drivers of academic success, such as mental health, teacher excellence, and leader development for all administrators.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Three things: Be caring, transparent, and intentional.

What legacy would you like to leave?

During my term on Broward County school board I would like for our system to be recognized as the best in the nation.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975 when I was 12.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Mowing lawns in Wilton Manors when I was 13.

What is your favorite book? Why?

"A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving because it the best introductory paragraph in the history of fiction. That is why I believe in God.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

Let be clear about one thing. The state of Florida has sufficient resources to have a world class public education system. This year alone, the governor vetoed $3.1 billion from the annual budget when all teachers in the state could be given an 11% raise for $1.1 billion. This is a matter of budget priorities, not of resources. If the projections are correct and we allocated 50% of new tax revenue in Florida to pubic education, our educators could get a 40% raise over the next 5 years. That would get them all into the national median salary for their profession.

What principles drive your policies for safety in schools?

Safety and security is foundational to education. That goes way beyond facilities and technology. The biggest factor in safety and security turns out to be people. We need to acknowledge every day that in our society there are dangerous people who want to target our children. Every staff member and leader needs to be aware of this every day. As we learned from Uvalde Texas, individual mistakes can have deadly consequences. We need to move way past compliance training and engage the hearts and minds of all 30,000 Broward county employees.

What role do you imagine technology playing in (and outside) the classroom in the future? How would you prepare the district for this?

As we all know, the pace of change in technology is ever increasing, and the need for technological knowledge is also ever increasing. But our schools are growing only modestly in technology, data science, and analytics. I believe that these vital areas need to become part of a core curriculum. We need to move past "reading, writing, and arithmetic" to add technology, data science, and analytics as the 4th component of the curriculum. As hockey players are taught, we need to aim our pucks ahead of the player's current positions and aim for where they will be in the future. No matter what your future takes, these areas will play a fundamental role. We should start now and provide time set aside during the school day, teachers who are certified to teach these courses, and appropriate, up-to-date equipment for students to use.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

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Candidate

Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Donna Pilger Korn	Broward County Public Schools school board At-large Seat 8 2022-Present	Succeeded by -