Bob Mentillo
Robert "Bob" A. Mentillo
was
a candidate for the District 2 seat on the Brevard School Board in Florida. He
lost to
John Craig and Keith Yarbrough in the general election on August 26, 2014.
Biography
Mentillo graduated from the Brevard Public Schools system in 1978, and he has been a resident of Brevard County for 38 years. He earned a bachelor's of science from the University of Central Florida and a master's of science from Nova Southeastern University. He spent 15 years in the U.S. Army Reserve.[1]
In addition to having taught mathematics for 26 years in the school district, Metnillo has also coached wrestling and football in Brevard Public Schools for 31 years. His two sons graduated from district schools, as well.[1]
Elections
2014
- See also: Brevard Public Schools elections (2014)
The August 26, 2014, general election in Brevard County featured three seats up for election. Andy Ziegler was the only incumbent to seek re-election in 2014. He faced challengers Denise Coyle, Dale D. Davis and Dean Paterakis in the District 5 election. The general elections for Districts 1 and 2 featured challengers seeking to replace outgoing board members Barbara A. Murray and Michael Krupp. Misty Belford and Paul Chinaris were competing in the District 1 race while John Craig, Bob Mentillo and Keith Yarbrough were vying for the District 2 seat.
The general election determined if candidates for each seat could garner a majority of the vote total. Since no candidate received 50 percent plus one of the general election votes in Districts 3 and 5, the top two vote recipients in those races advanced to the runoff election on November 4, 2014.
Belford won the general election for District 1. The races for Districts 3 and 5 were decided in the runoff election. Craig and Yarbrough advanced to the runoff election for District 3, while Ziegler and Coyle advanced for District 5.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  John Craig |
47.4% | 7,622 | |
| Nonpartisan | Keith Yarbrough |
33.8% | 5,427 | |
| Nonpartisan | Bob Mentillo | 18.8% | 3,026 | |
| Total Votes | 16,075 | |||
| Source: Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Official Results," September 2, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Mentillo reported $4,515.00 in monetary contributions, $255.39 in-kind contributions and $3,407.56 in expenditures to the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, which left his campaign with $1,107.44 on hand.[2]
Endorsements
Mentillo received an endorsement from Florida Today.[3]
Campaign themes
2014
Metillo listed the following beliefs that informed his stances in the election:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Metnillo (2014)[1] | ||
He also has provided the following statements on his campaign Facebook page:
Half-cent sales tax
| “ | First, if I am elected, I will have to deal with a situation where the tax has either passed or failed.
My stance on the tax has been consistent from the beginning: I believe we need the money; we are over $500 million in debt that we need to pay off. Our buildings are in need of major repairs, our technology infrastructure and hardware is seriously outdated BUT I do not believe the current leadership will spend the money the way it needs to be spent. If a comprehensive oversight committee is established that has power to overrule expenditures that are not consistent with the mandate as written, I would support the ½ cent sales tax. At this time, I do not see that in the sales tax wording. District leadership has demonstrated they will disregard constitutional amendments, how can we trust them to follow the sales tax mandate? If the tax passes my main goal will be to make sure the money is spent on what it was designated for and money that was freed up will be spent to pay down our debt. If the tax fails my main goal will be to make sure that our schools do not bear the brunt of the cuts and that we focus on our core responsibilities to the students and schools.[5][4] |
” |
| —Mentillo (2014) | ||
Florida Standards
| “ | As a teacher, I have always had standards to guide my teaching and in the last 26 years I have seen many changes. I support having a standard that teachers teach to. Sadly, this is not what the implementation of the Florida Standards is about. Some company is going to make lots of money selling standardized test, study material, and remediation. The new standards themselves are just that, standards, a guide for teachers. These standards want the students to think, to go deeper into concepts, which is also what teachers want for their students. The district needs to address the following: class size, teacher planning time, amount of contact time between students and teachers, and the amount of other things students and teachers are required to do during the school day. These areas we can impact while we work with other school districts and grass roots organizations to convince the State Legislature to correct the problems they have created.[6][4] | ” |
| —Mentillo (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Bob + Mentillo + Brevard + Public + Schools + Florida"
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Facebook, "Bob Mentillo for Brevard County School Board 2014, About," accessed August 21, 2014
- ↑ Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, "Candidate Contributions and Expenditures," accessed October 27, 2014
- ↑ Florida Today, "Endorsement: Mentillo's mission for classrooms," August 6, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Facebook, "Bob Mentillo for Brevard County School Board 2014," August 13, 2014
- ↑ Facebook, "Bob Mentillo for Brevard County School Board 2014," August 18, 2014
| 2014 Brevard Public Schools Elections | |
| Brevard County, Florida | |
| Election date: | August 26, 2014 |
| Candidates: | District 1: • Misty Belford • Paul Chinaris District 2: • John Craig • Bob Mentillo • Keith Yarbrough |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
