Collier County School Board races are headed to a runoff in November

Collier County School Board races are headed to a runoff in November.

Tuesday’s primary settled nothing, no one won one of the three seats up for grabs on the Collier County School Board.

There are six candidates running for the positions, but only three seats are available. So the two highest getters in each race will run off in November.

Jen Mitchell is the chair of the school board and she’s also fighting to keep her job.

“I think because there have been so many headlines around the country, some crazy headlines around education. And I think in light of those the governor is trying to ensure we don’t see those issues creep into our instruction and I’m happy to report that those things are not happening here in the classrooms,” Mitchell said.

Roy Terry is another incumbent hoping to stay on the board.

“Right now, it boils down to the fact that we have three ultra-conservatives running and three moderate conservatives, so the public’s gonna have to look at that, and make a decision as to what direction they want to go,” Terry said.

The school board has had to navigate the pandemic to social issues like the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law and board members believe no one’s done it better.

Their challenges don’t see it that way.

Kelly Lichter, a Collier County School Board candidate said, “Right now, we have three incumbents who haven’t done anything to improve the academics of our students.”

Timothy Moshier, a Collier County School Board is another candidate for the district.

“You can’t see the incumbents they can’t answer questions and I just figured what do I have to lose I have 30 years in the trucking business common sense it shouldn’t be that difficult to teach kids basic, basics,” Moshier said.