The deadline to qualify has passed. Unless a candidate is tagged as qualified, they will not appear on the August ballot. This means that the Districts 1, 3, & 7 races will be decided in August. It would be better if Florida law deferred two candidate non-partisan races to the November ballot as there would be a higher voter turnout, but that would take a change in law that’s not going to happen in the time for this year’s elections if any legislator would care to introduce a bill.

Let’s take a quick look.

District 1:

• Nadine Ebri: Featuring an endorsement from Diana Greene, ex-superintendent, Ms. Ebri has experience as a former DCPS teacher. Her website tells us that she was a finalist for Teacher of the Year in 2020-2021 and that she launched the Minecraft Lab, which is a software product from Microsoft marketed to teachers as a means of providing engaging learning experiences to students. She currently is “Education Community Manager for a large educational technology company.”
• Tony Ricardo: A former public (Andrew Jackson High) and private (New Covenant Christian Assembly) teacher, his website is sparse. His landing page features a donation ask and his info page gives a general overview short on specifics. He does have the endorsement of the police union and the Duval County Republican Assembly as well as a group calling themselves Stand4Jax.

District 3:

• Rebecca Nathanson: She became a parental rights advocate in 2021 after watching the DCPS School Board deal with Covid policy, specifically “the school board violated all three branches of government when they mandated that students wear cloth masks when they returned to school.” She goes on to make it clear that she’s the anti-board board candidate because the current crowd considers themselves above the law. Her actual experience is volunteering as a tutor for English Language Learners, but she also considers herself an expert in developing curriculum.
• Cindy Pearson: Currently the incumbent, she is running for a second term. There’s not a lot of information on her campaign website, but this may be the one race that serves as a referendum on school board performance across these last few contentious years. But only District 3 gets to vote.

District 5:

• Reggie Blount: A product of DCPS schools (Paxon Sr. High,) he holds a bachelor’s degree from Edward Waters University and a master’s degree from Liberty University. He has had an extensive military career and volunteered in the community “Parents are the foundation …” “I’m focused on what’s healthy for children.” He also supports the inclusion of arts, music, and sports as an essential part of a child’s education.
• Nahshon Nicks: A previous candidate for City Council (District 7, 2019; At-Large Region 5, 2023,) he’s now running for school board. He’s a self-described pastor (Fresh Word Ministries) and future MMA fighter who was/will be featured in the movie, Fight Church. He’s “not the establishment candidate, but I’m the candidate who will fight for our children & our great teachers for a better tomorrow.”
• Hank Rogers: “Serving children is what I have always done with integrity, knowledge and passion!” He ran for the position in 2016, but lost to the incumbent who is term-limited and cannot run again. Lots of public service on his resume, he has also been a substitute teacher in the past as well as serving as a Guardian Ad Litem for children in the foster care system.

District 7:

• Melody Bolduc: Ran for the position in 2016, she is back to succeed the incumbent who is term-limited and cannot run again. “Mother, Teacher, Conservative, Small Business Owner” are the features on the header of her website. She majored in teacher education at UNF and began teaching at Wolfson High. She went to parochial schools after completing her elementary education at Beauclerc. Among her community engagement citations, she lists membership in the Republican Women’s Club and Moms for Liberty.
• Sarah Mannion: A latecomer to the race, she took over for a previous candidate who was forced to withdraw from the race. She is a Jacksonville native and local attorney who attended DCPS schools on the Southside.

I will take a deeper dive in the weeks ahead. I had hoped to glean answers to important questions and issues from the candidate’s published materials rather than sending their campaigns questionnaires, but it doesn’t look like they have enough on the web to avoid that. My task ahead, then, is to work on what to ask them. Feel free, encouraged, solicited, &c. &c. to make suggestions in the comments.