Denise Coyle (Florida)

Denise Coyle

Personal

Profession

Child advocate

Denise Coyle was a candidate for the District 5 seat on the Brevard School Board in Florida. She faced Dale D. Davis, Dean Paterakis and Andy Ziegler in the general election on August 26, 2014. Ziegler, the incumbent, and Coyle advanced to the runoff election on November 4, 2014, where Coyle was defeated.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Coyle is a certified volunteer in the Guardian Ad Litem program of the Florida's 18th Circuit Court. Coyle and her husband, Marty, had three children. Their oldest son was killed in an accident in 2013. Their youngest song attends Heritage High School, and their daughter attended Palm Bay High School.

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

Runoff

Brevard Public Schools, District 5 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Andy Ziegler Incumbent	53%	17,847
	Nonpartisan	Denise Coyle	47%	15,825
Total Votes				33,672
Source: Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 General Election Official Results," November 14, 2014

General

Brevard Public Schools, District 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Andy Ziegler Incumbent	47.9%	5,663
	Nonpartisan	Denise Coyle	22.5%	2,661
	Nonpartisan	Dean Paterakis	17.9%	2,114
	Nonpartisan	Dale D. Davis	11.7%	1,381
Total Votes				11,819
Source: Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, "2014 Primary Election Official Results," September 2, 2014

Funding

As of October 27, 2014, Coyle reported $11,058.29 in monetary contributions, $2,931.39 in-kind contributions and $10,985.50 in expenditures to the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections, which left her campaign with $72.79 on hand.

Endorsements

Coyle was endorsed by the Brevard Times following a campaign sign removal incident with incumbent Andy Ziegler.

Campaign themes

2014

Coyle's campaign website included the following statements statements on issues in the district.

School culture

“	There seems to be a bully mentality that also exist when we as a community bring our concerns to the district level and even the school level. This has to stop we have to work as a community and for the best interest of all. We can't keep on this destructive path and continue to lose some of our most valuable dedicated teachers. I will make it my mission to work on this the first day - I want every parent - teacher and student to have a voice; but not just a voice I want them to be heard and listened to. I want their concerns addressed without the fear of retaliation or the like.	”
—Denise Coyle (2014)

Teacher Morale

“	Teachers, [sic] are casting aside the projects and creative problem-solving activities they once did because the stakes are high for standardized test accountability. Creativity has been stripped. Teachers are getting burned out focusing on test preparation. A teachers job should focus on teaching students how to be life long learners and NOT test takers. For the most part, teachers are undervalued and under-appreciated. This is especially sad and apparent in our district; considering the tremendous impact and commitment they have with our students. How can a district that prides itself as ranking among Florida's highest performing public school districts continue to ignore the very backbone and reason for that rating- our teachers! Brevard ranks 33rd in teacher compensation while our superintendent and board members rank 10th highest in compensation. Common sense tells us this is wrong and it needs to change. Teachers should be respected and professionally compensated after all they are the future of our children!	”
—Denise Coyle (2014)

Half-cent sales tax

“	In order to even begin the process of getting a sales tax to pass several things must change. Stop with the THREATS Better communication! Trust Oversight Guarantee We cannot continue to threaten students, parents and teachers with school closures and program cuts. Change the attitude and tone; the taxpayers are tired of the Doom and Gloom! It is not effective as we have already seen in the past. Allow critical input from our community (Businesses, executives, educators) this has to be a collaborative effort with our entire community. Our stakeholder’s deserve a complete, detailed outline of how and where this money will be spent. Oversight and a guarantee that our hard earned tax dollars are being spent on needs and not wants! Most importantly – support the mission of this district when making cuts. We have thousands of dedicated teachers that will be more than happy to share hundreds of ideas on how to stretch a dollar, make sacrifices, work harder and longer for less pay all while continuing to provide our students with the best education in our state. Living within our means might just be the key.	”
—Denise Coyle (2014)

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Denise + Coyle + Brevard + Public + Schools + Florida"

Denise Coyle News Feed

See also

• Brevard Public Schools, Florida
• Brevard Public Schools elections (2014)

External links

Suggest a link

• Brevard Public Schools
• Campaign website
• Facebook campaign page