Dee Prether
Dee Prether
was
a candidate for the District 4 seat on the Hillsborough County School Board in Florida. She
was defeated by
Terry Kemple and Melissa Snively in the general election on August 26, 2014.
Elections
2014
The August 26, 2014, general election in Hillsborough County featured three seats up for election. The general election determined if candidates for each seat could garner a majority of the vote total. Because no candidate received 50 percent plus one of the general election votes in any of the districts, the top two vote recipients in all three races advanced to the runoff election on November 4, 2014.
District 6 incumbent April Griffin was the only board member to seek re-election and faced a challenge from seven other candidates in the general election. Griffin advanced to the runoff election with challenger Dipa Shah.
Newcomers Sally Harris, Michelle Popp Shimberg and Michael Weston ran for the District 2 seat. Shimberg and Harris advanced to the runoff election. Terry Kemple, Dee Prether and Melissa Snively sought election to the District 4 seat. Snively and Temple advanced to the runoff election for the open seat.
Results
General
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan |  Melissa Snively |
46.8% | 11,706 | |
| Nonpartisan | Terry Kemple |
39.5% | 9,900 | |
| Nonpartisan | Dee Prether | 13.7% | 3,433 | |
| Total Votes | 25,039 | |||
| Source: Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Results," September 2, 2014 | ||||
Funding
Prether reported $8,870.62 in monetary contributions, $81.85 in-kind contributions and $8,167.52 in expenditures to the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, which left her campaign with $703.10.[1]
Campaign themes
2014
Prether's campaign website listed the following themes for the 2014 race:
| “ | What are my goals? My goal is to ensure that all students of Hillsborough County are provided with the education that will help them achieve their goals, not just as young adults seeking higher education or first-time jobs, but on their entire life's journey. I strongly oppose the current statistic-driven goals and needs of the administrators, politicians, and bureaucrats. The students and parents of Hillsborough County can trust me to wake up every day and focus on making the student's educational journey relevant and forward-thinking. They can trust me to put the student's needs ahead of the needs of the administrators, bureaucrats and politicians. I will give the students and parents a voice and make myself accessible in District 4's schools and communities rather than remain downtown. The teachers of Hillsborough County can count and rely on me to listen to their needs and work to ensure that they have a safe environment to work, that they have the best curriculum to teach and the flexibility to best implement said curriculum, and that they have the necessary resources to support their lessons. I will work diligently to lift the burden of extraneous reports and records so the teachers can focus on students and lessons. Why am I running? I am running because over my 12 years of first-hand experience wrestling with the education system to ensure my children's "Excellence in Education," I found that the current approved curriculum and teaching practices provided my children with only mediocrity in education. This frustrated me. So, every year I talked with teachers, principals and education administrators to try to reach their promise of "Excellence in Education" for my children as well as others. However, all I ever got was complacency, apathy, "this is the way we have always done it," or "No - this isn't offered at other schools, so we can't do it here." In one of my wrestling matches with an administrator for my daughter, I asked about the same opportunity for the others students and the administrator responded with "What do you care about other students?" - Well, I do care. A fellow mother once said to me that since my child didn't have any learning problems and was getting by, my child’s needs were not important. My response: the difference between her and I was that I wanted her son to get what he needed, but she did not want my daughter to get what she needed. Shouldn't we strive to maximize the education experience for all of the students? In Hillsborough County, this is not the case. The Hillsborough County education system is motivated by statistics - not by students and teachers. Since I have been working to meet my children’s educational needs, I have encountered our education system up close and personal - and it has done nothing but frustrate me. I know a lot of other parents feel the same way and I will give them and their students a voice into a closed-minded and myopic education system, because it really is about the children and their future. Why elect me? I was a classroom volunteer, a substitute teacher for two years, and became a certified teacher in 2011. I have seen the system in the classroom and outside of it. I have met with district curriculum and other department heads. I have read books, research, statistics and laws on education; watched movies and documentaries; and met with an education state Senator and state Representative. I have used homeschool techniques, Florida Virtual School, and Dual Enrollment to get my children the education they needed - and still need - all while keeping my children in our local schools as part-time and full-time students. I can personally relate to the varying needs of students, parents and teachers. I am well versed on both the specifics and generalities of education. I am very passionate about education and truly believe that education is the first step in a successful rest-of-your-life. I would like other students and parents to benefit from my experiences. I will... For Students and Parents – be a strong, tenacious and well-informed voice. For Teachers – obtain curriculum implementation flexibility, reduce bureaucratic reports and record keeping, and improve resource support. For Schools – obtain the flexibility to best educate their students without being micro-managed from the school district. For Hillsborough County School District - work with the Florida Department of Education and state legislatures to best educate our students. We must remember that education is about students and teachers - that is the priority. Everything else within an education system is to support that - not the other way around. The bottom line: balancing the needs of the students, teachers and parents with the needs of the bureaucrats, administrators, and politicians.[2] |
” |
| —Dee Prether's campaign website, (2014) | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Dee + Prether + Hillsborough + County + Schools"
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, "Reporting group (Election/Committees) : 2014 Candidate Election Cycle (11/4/2014)," accessed October 28, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Dee Prether for School Board, "Quality Leadership," accessed July 25, 2014
| 2014 Hillsborough County Public Schools Elections | |
| Hillsborough County, Florida | |
| Election date: | August 26, 2014 |
| Candidates: | District 2: • Sally Harris • Michelle Popp Shimberg • Michael Weston District 4: • Terry Kemple • Dee Prether • Melissa Snively |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
