Dana Fernandez

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Dana Fernandez

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Johnson & Wales University, 1997

Graduate

Queens College, 2008

Contact

Campaign website

Dana Fernandez ran for election to the Seminole County Public Schools school board to represent District 5 in Florida. Fernandez lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

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

Biography

Dana Fernandez earned a bachelor's degree from Johnson & Wales University in 1997, a graduate degree from Webster University in 2002, and a graduate degree from Queens College in 2008.

Elections

2022

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

General election

General election for Seminole County Public Schools school board District 5

Autumn Garick defeated Dana Fernandez in the general election for Seminole County Public Schools school board District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Autumn Garick (Nonpartisan)	51.3	76,462
		Dana Fernandez (Nonpartisan)	48.7	72,453

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 148,915
= 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.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Seminole County Public Schools school board District 5

Autumn Garick and Dana Fernandez defeated Joshua Memminger and Agar Quiñones-Aristone in the primary for Seminole County Public Schools school board District 5 on August 23, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Autumn Garick (Nonpartisan)	42.1	32,924
✔		Dana Fernandez (Nonpartisan)	25.1	19,656
		Joshua Memminger (Nonpartisan)	18.8	14,700
		Agar Quiñones-Aristone (Nonpartisan)	14.0	10,926

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 78,206
= 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.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dana Fernandez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fernandez'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.

I am a mother of eight and a special education/general education teacher for over 12 years. In addition to being an educator, my previous work includes corporate and non-profit work; volunteer work including at church. I hold two Master’s degrees; a Master of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Science in Education. I have seen a change over the years in our classrooms that was negatively impacting students. It’s been a subtle change until the start of the pandemic. I witnessed educators attempt to indoctrinate my own children by telling them they suffer from “white privilege.” This does not sit well with a mother of multiracial and multicultural children. Any attempt to divide children solely based on skin color is wrong and needs to stop. Theories like Critical Race Theory that were once studied and debated at universities have now seeped their way into K—12 schools and being stated as fact. This is detrimental to students on so many levels and it divides us rather than uniting us. At the same time I have witnessed any attempt to speak out against this by parents as a threat. Parents have literally been pushed out of their children’s education. This needs to change. As an extension of the parents on that board, I will be your watchdog to protect our students. Full transparency is not a talking point, it needs to be implemented across the entire county.

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?

• Parents’ rights
• Education not indoctrination
• School safety

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I would like to see the politics out of our schools. It is essential that we restore the power where it belongs, back to the parents. I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.
I also believe very strongly that the students have been negatively impacted by the school closures and mandates. I will never, ever vote to close down the schools again and certainly will never, ever support any mandate.

Who are your constituents?

Every concerned Seminole County resident.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

To listen and respect one another. To work with the schools and the community to best understand the needs of families, students, faculty and staff and address those needs to the best of our ability.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

It is important to foster good relationships in the community but at the end of the day, our duty is to the parents of the students.

Do you believe it is important to intentionally recruit with the aim of diversifying the district’s faculty, staff, and administration? If so, what would be your policy to achieve this?

I believe firmly in equality and hiring the best person for the job. Period.

What issues get in the way of quality education? How would you address these obstacles?

Politics. Politics will get in the way of a quality education. We need to make sure children are taught academics and not foster division by including Critical Race or Gender theories in our K-12 schools.

What are your views on how to address schooling during pandemic times?

Schools must stay open. Parents who want to send their children to schools must be allowed to do so. I will never vote to close down our schools.

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district? What plans do you have to be inclusive of parental involvement?

Schools need to always do their best to reach out and foster a great relationship with their parents. The school board needs to ensure that the schools communicate effectively with parents to keep them well informed of everything happening at their schools and parents have full transparency.

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

2022 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

Seminole County Public Schools school board District 5

Website