JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Four Duval County School Board races were on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary election.
DCPS will look a lot different in the coming months as voters lined their precincts to cast votes for the prospective candidates they wanted to see fill those seats.
District 3 school board member Cindy Pearson ran for a second term. Rebecca Nathanson, who Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed, challenged Pearson in the race.
The race has not yet been called, with Pearson leading 51% to 49% for Nathanson.
As we awaited results, News4JAX caught up with both candidates before the results were in and they were in good spirits.
Pearson talked about her hopes for a second term.
“On the budget front, it’s bringing our expenses in line with our revenue, and on the student achievement front, it’s bringing us up into the top of the big seven districts,” Pearson said. “And then with neighborhood schools, making sure we have pathways in every neighborhood in Duval County where parents feel comfortable that they have a choice they like, from elementary to middle to high school.”
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Nathanson also talked about what she hoped to accomplish if she was elected.
“Literacy rates. I think we can tackle those with a laser focus on the comprehensive, evidence-based reading plan, but also that ties into funding. If we can look at how our dollars are allocated and funnel more of them to the classroom, I think we can address some of those issues,” Nathanson said. “Perhaps with more paraprofessionals or more teaching resources for teachers or hopefully, reducing class size to help with that.”
The other three races are Districts 1, 5, and 7. Those seats will have a brand new school board member in a few months, but District 5 does have the potential to go to a runoff because there are three candidates in that race.
With all precincts reporting Reginald “Reggie” Blount and Hank Rogers were tied with 40% of the vote each. Nahshon Nicks had 20% of the vote.
Tony Ricardo was called as the winner for District 1 with 53% of the vote over Nadine Ebri, and Melody Bolduc won District 7 with 56% of the vote over Sarah Mannion.