McKinnon not ready for Clay School Board

This was written by someone who attends forums and knows the candidates, so read if you want to know what is going on and pass it on if you want other people to know. We have two candidates for Clay School Board district 4. One is Frank Farrell. I’ve known Frank for several years and consider him to be a hard worker with an impressive background who has demonstrated patience and judgement on the school board, has demonstrated an ability to work with others even in disagreement, and has demonstrated the work-ethic and desire to understand complex financial and administrative duties of the school board. He is a veteran with a long history of involvement in the welfare of children, he has an impressive professional background, holds a board position with the Florida School Board Association and has advocated on behalf of Clay Schools to our elected officials in Tallahassee. There should be no question in anyone’s mind that Frank Farrell should be reelected to the school board. The other candidate is Johnna McKinnon. I have serious concerns about her ability to adequately perform and do not believe she is anywhere near ready to hold a seat on the Clay School Board. My specific concerns are her demonstrated lack of knowledge, her demonstrated lack of vision, the probability that she will inadequately represent her constitutents, the effect her inexperience would have on the school board, and the fact that she is a single-issue, “flagpole prayer” candidate who has no chance of accomplishing her single issue. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE In a recent candidate forum Mrs. McKinnon conceded that she did not know as much about the school budget as did Mr. Farrell, but more alarming was her confusing a state mandate with a federal mandate. Keep in mind that at this point Mrs. McKinnon has been campaigning for close to a year. You would think that after a year’s time she would know the difference between a federal program and a state program. You would also think she would know a little about the school budget. What has she been doing? LACK OF VISION During that same forum Mrs. McKinnon was asked to name 3 specific items she would change in the school district. What followed about 10 seconds of “deer in the headlights” silence followed by a story about the movie Apollo 13. (This part of the forum has been posted to you tube.) This was followed by the admission that she had nothing specific that she wanted to change. ???! How in the world can you campaign for the better part of a year, assuring everyone you meet that you are the person who will move Clay Schools forward, soliciting people for money to get you elected, but have no idea what to change if you do get elected? It’s absurd. You can’t make the schools better if you neither understand the business of the schools or have even a general idea of what needs to be changed. A leader cannot be considered to have vision if they don’t know what to do. LACK OF REPRESENTATION By way of example, Ted Yoho recently won the Republican primary for Congress, people I know said the reason he won was because he campaigned EVERYWHERE. That is what you do when you are running for office, you talk to as many people as possible; I believe this is a good thing because not only are you getting your message out you are also hearing the concerns of their potential future constituents. We sometimes forget is that elected officials REPRESENT us. They don’t have to agree with everyone and have a responsibility to their principles, but they nevertheless represent every one of their constituents and at the very least have a responsibility to listen to their concerns. What do you think of a candidate who ducks forums? If elected, do you think they will represent their constituents if they are unwilling to meet with them during the campaign? I don’t. I know of three important forums that Mrs. McKinnon failed to attend. One of these was hosted by the Clay Education Association, the teacher’s union. While I’m not exactly buddy-buddy with the union, the fact is that the teachers are school employees and the educators of our children, I think a candidate for school board would need to hear their concerns in order to their job. I guess Mrs. McKinnon doesn’t think so. The other two forums were at St. James AME Church in Orange Park. The reason why these forums were significant is because St. James is highly representative of the Grove Park area and Grove Park Elementary. Grove Park Elementary is a low scoring school and a cause for concern. I know that Frank Farrell has been working for greater community involvement in Grove Park Elementary, but what about Mrs. McKinnon? How can she solve the problems of that particular school if she misses not one, but two forums hosted by a community that has children in that school? At what point does she start meeting and listening to the people she wants to represent? I also consider it extremely odd that Mrs. McKinnon would miss two forums hosted at a church. She has been running as a “more Christian that you” candidate, you would think a forum would be a place she would want to be. Guess not. THE EFFECT OF INEXPERIENCE We have a new Superintendent of Schools, Charlie Van Zant. Mr. Van Zant has been taking a lot of hits lately, but I am completely confident that he will be a fine Superintendent, I believe that Superintendent will remain an elected position and it is my hope that four years from now Mr. Van Zant will be reelected in an open election. With 14 years of School Board experience behind him Mr. Van Zant has extensive knowledge of the schools, but there will nonetheless be a learning curve while he takes on the particular duties of the Superintendent. I believe that Frank Farrell has worked very well with Van Zant on the School Board and will continue to work with him as Superintendent; Farrell has also demonstrated an ability to work with other members of the School Board. My concern is that Mrs. McKinnon would seriously detract from the workings of the School Board because she doesn’t know anything, a situation that is highly undesirable when you also have a new superintendent. Neither do I feel she will work well with the other School Board members. I fail to see any reason to believe that Mrs. McKinnon’s election to the Board would improve the schools in any way, and many reason to believe she would detract from our schools. FLAGPOLE PRAYER Flagpole prayer has been an incredibly bitter and drawn-out issue for our schools. Mrs. McKinnon is in favor of changing the policy on that issue to allow organizations to hold prayers closer to the begining of the school day. I believe that many of her supporters are single-issue voters who are willing to overlook her failings in exchange for her stance on that particular item. Do the math, it isn’t going to happen. The current school board policy was passed 3 yes and 2 no. One of the no votes was Charlie Van Zant and he is no longer on the School Board. My opinion in which I am certain is that neither of the candidates contending for that open seat will re-open that issue. If McKinnon is elected it will still be 3-2 for the current policy. If you are willing to overlook Mrs. McKinnon’s lack of qualifications based on nothing more that what she wants to do but will be unable to do, then cast your vote for her. It’s your vote, as an American you have the right to cast it as you choose, but in my opinion if you vote for McKinnon then you don’t care much about the schools.