Duval County School Board, District 5

Four of seven seats on the Duval County School Board are up for election this year. These are nonpartisan races that will appear on the August primary ballot.

Incumbent Warren Jones is being challenged by Brenda Ann Jordan in District 5, which covers Northwest Jacksonville and most of the Westside.

Scroll down to read each candidate’s responses to News4Jax’s questionnaire, presented verbatim as submitted.

Warren Jones

Campaign website: Facebook

This candidate has not responded to the News4Jax candidate survey.

Brenda Ann Jordan

Party affiliation: Non party affiliation

Age: 50

Candidate’s family: Mother on three young adults 31,23,22 that were products of DCPS Schools. I am a proud grandmother of two (Samia 2yrs old & Orlando 1yr old). I enjoy checking on my parents. I am also proud to say that my mother who was/now a retired math teacher inspired me to become an educator in which I love being to the upmost.

Occupation: Veteran Teacher(ESE/General Ed) for 20+ years

Education: (2020) Defending my Doctoral Dissertation Result @ Concordia University of Chicago, 10/2006 Master’s Degree in Bachelor Administration, 5/1992 Edward Waters College in Business Administration, Education experience:2001-current Teacher with experience in Exceptional Student Education and General Education, ENglish Speaking Other Languages

Political experience: 2015 Candidate for DCPS School Board District 5 (came in 2nd place)

What do you see as the top three issues in this race?

• Assisting underperforming schools in DCPS District 5 as well as throughout DCPS schools
• Building the DCPS schools and communities throughout District 5 (seeking community block grants and additional resources to help revitalize schools)
• Working on developing a curriculum that embraces all ethnicities, culture, race relations to help pave the way for students in learning to respect and understand one another’s uniqueness

How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?

The voter's should look at what was done while the person was in office and ask question on how has that individual made a difference. The voters should create a checklist on the positive and negative regarding how the individual in office has impacted the students, parents, grandparents, and teachers in regards to the vision for DCPS School Board District 5

What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?

I would like the people to remember Brenda A. Jordan (Candidate) the New Vision of DCPS School Board District 5. As a product of district 5, my goal is to go after the plethora of resources thats rampart throughout district 5 via students, parents, stakeholders, community leaders in making DCPS District 5 as one of the best place to live in Jacksonville, Fl as well as building new DCPS life long partners throughout Jacksonville Florida and beyond.

If elected how would you address the calls for racial justice?

Meeting with key officials DCPS, student leaders, parent representatives/ community leaders,Mayor, City Counsel Officials, Jacksonville Sheriff Officer need to be on board in participating in race relation trainings, workshops, visiting all neighborhoods via ZOOM conferencing until the COVID 19 clears in learning how to embrace each other's differences. Moreover, race relation should be part of a diverse sound curriculum in which teachers, students, parents are appropriately trained on how to learn to respect and embrace one another differences.

What challenges does COVID-19 present to the office you are seeking?

Due to the COVID-19, the challenge would be seeking cost effective ways in helping DCPS operational budget since the new norm can be students learning from home or in school. From this, the opportunity for me is to present innovativeness and creativity in providing additional resources, seeking funding for student pupils to learn beyond the classroom virtually, or in school. From this, some teachers and students like the idea of being flexible via being able to go to school virtually or school whenever it is cleared for them to go into the physical classroom.

Campaign website: .brendaajordan.com

Campaign’s social media pages: Facebook | Twitter

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund hosted virtual candidate forums for each of the School Board races. Watch the District 5 forum below.