After 16 years on the Palm Beach County School Board, Marcia Andrews could add plenty of weight to any candidate she might endorse to replace her in District 6.
However, Andrews, who is not seeking a fifth four-year term, reiterated this week that she will not endorse any of the candidates squaring off in the Tuesday, Aug. 18 primary election to replace her.
The three candidates include attorney John McGovern, a former member of the Wellington Village Council; former school counselor Widline Pierre; and Wanda Rosario-Schoenfeld, who served as a teacher and principal mostly in the Buffalo, N.Y., area before moving to Florida.
“I don’t want to put my thumb on anything,” said Andrews, who has met with all three candidates. “I want to watch the process unfold… [and] give everyone a chance.”
If one of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate will win the seat outright. If not, the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election ballot in November.
Andrews, a former teacher and principal, spent 30 years working in county schools in various roles before joining the school board. “I think it’s really important to have an educator on the school board,” she said. “If they’ve been a classroom teacher, that’s a big deal.”
District 6 encompasses most of the county west of State Road 7, all the way to Lake Okeechobee. It includes 41 schools in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, Westlake, the Acreage/Loxahatchee area and the Glades communities.
“District 6 is doing very well,” Andrews said. “Most of our schools are A rated. Our kids are the future, and we have high expectations for our schools. They need to take students to the next level.”
The Town-Crier spoke with the three candidates seeking to replace Andrews.
WIDLINE PIERRE
Pierre grew up in Palm Beach County, graduated from Lake Worth High School, and then from Barry University with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in mental health counseling with a
focus on school counseling.
She served as a school counselor in Palm Beach County and has worked as a mental health therapist for multiple agencies. Pierre also founded her own business providing help to special needs students dealing with autism, ADHD and other issues.
Though new to politics, the suburban Lake Worth resident said she believes her campaign is going well.
“To be honest, it’s going better than I expected,” she said. “I’ve been knocking on doors, talking to parents. The community is embracing me.”
Pierre has said, if elected, she would focus on improving workforce readiness programs, raising school performance and accountability, upgrading school buildings, and strengthening school safety by expanding behavioral and mental health support.
Pierre pushed back on frequently voiced criticism that the district is oversaturated with nonteaching personnel.
“I don’t think we have any people with empty titles,” she said. “Every position counts… I know we don’t have enough school counselors.”
Pierre’s biggest concern, she told the Town-Crier, is the loss of 6,000 students from what has been the nation’s 10th largest school system with some 175,000 students. According to her web site, the drain has forced the resignment of 120 teachers and could cost the county $25 million in state funding.
Pierre blames much of the drop in students on a lack of communication with parents.
“We may need more people [in communications] to get to parents more quickly,” she said. “We need to be building school enrollment back. We need to rebuild trust in the public schools.”
Pierre said that as a product of the county’s school system, “It was important to me to come back and pay it forward.” That’s what her campaign is about, she said.
Pierre is married, with no children but happily parenting a golden retriever named CoCo.
To learn more about Pierre, visit www.widlinepierre.com.
WANDA ROSARIO-SCHOENFELD
Rosario-Schoenfeld holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy, and a master’s degree in educational administration, both from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She served as principal of several Buffalo-area schools and was a pioneer in creating a certification program for teachers in the early 1990s.
Rosario-Schoenfeld has lived in Florida for 10 years and said six years as a member of the Berean Christian School Board of Directors has given her insight into local education.
She credited Andrews for successfully carrying the baton for education in District 6 for a long time. “It is critical that the baton be handed off to someone who is an educator,” Rosario-Schoenfeld said.
She added that it is critical that schools get back to reading fundamentals, especially in pre-kindergarten through second grade.
“Reading is fundamental to everything,” she said. “If they get to third grade without the proper reading skills, they can’t learn.”
Students who are struggling academically or socially should be identified early and enlisted in a PBIS — Positive Behavior, Intervention and Support — program, she said.
As the students move into their teens, they should know that they have options, Rosario-Schoenfeld said.
“We have a lot of great programs, we’re just not marketing them well,” she added.
According to her web site, Rosario-Schoenfeld was an early leader in “merging traditional school models with workforce skills school systems” from trades to healthcare.
“One size does not fit all,” she told the Town-Crier. “Statistics show that 40 percent of high school students are not college bound. We need to start looking at the vocational and technical piece not as something that’s secondary… We need to understand that different areas of [District 6] may have different vocational needs.”
Rosario-Schoenfeld said that teacher pay is an issue in an area where housing affordability is an ongoing problem, but that parents and other residents don’t mind higher school taxes, “if the instructional side of things is really working.”
She said a major key to stopping the loss of students from the system is “the parent involvement piece. They need to feel like they’re welcome in the schools… that they feel validated.”
Rosario-Schoenfeld is divorced and does not have children.
For more information about Rosario-Schoenfeld, visit www.wandaforpbcschools.com.
JOHN McGOVERN
McGovern is a personal injury attorney based at a law firm in Royal Palm Beach. A Wellington resident, he served on the Wellington Village Council from 2015 until March of this year before stepping down due to term limits.
McGovern noted that his mother worked in education, that he and his wife Michelle are products of Palm Beach County public schools, and that his two daughters recently graduated from the county’s public schools.
McGovern said he has great respect for classroom teachers. In fact, he was endorsed by the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association. However, the role of a school board member is very different.
“You’re essentially on the board of directors of a $5.9 billion business,” he said, referring to the school district’s annual budget. “You’re setting policy. You’re hiring the superintendent.”
McGovern pointed out that as a member of the Wellington council, he frequently helped oversee budgets of more than $100 million.
“I’m the only one in this race with experience handling very large budgets,” he said. “And I’m also the only one in this race with kids who attended public schools… This is personal to me.”
McGovern said that is one of the reasons that even in vast District 6, when someone asks for a yard sign, he or a member of his family delivers it.
“It’s a chance for me to meet and interact with them personally,” he said. “It’s a way of saying we appreciate them being on our team.”
McGovern recently told the Town-Crier that county schools face several major challenges — No. 1 being parents taking their children out of public schools, which can create a drop in state funding.
“We need to be in direct contact with parents to talk about why and how Palm Beach County schools are the best choice for the vast, vast majority of students,” he said.
McGovern stressed that there is a need to get back to basics in elementary school with less dependence on technology, saving that for middle school and beyond. The schools also need to provide students with a path to “hands-on jobs,” not push all students toward traditional college.
Teacher recruitment and pay is another key issue for him. McGovern suggested that the school district should consider using some of its excess land for construction of subsidized teacher housing due to the county’s affordability crisis.
He also said improved expense and budgeting transparency is important to help taxpayers feel comfortable voting to support additional funding for schools.
To learn more about McGovern, visit www.mcgovernforschools.com.
