The League of Women Voters of Lee County in partnership with WGCU and the News-Press, were the hosts for this candidate forum for Lee County School Board Districts 1, 4, 5, 6 on Thursday evening at FGCU's Water School.
Six of the 11 candidates attended the forum; just one incumbent of four — Debbie Jordan, who represents District 4, the northernmost district — was there. Incumbents Jada Langford-Fleming, Armor Persons and Sam Fisher and did not participate. Challenger Tony Beougher was also absent. On their websites, all four of those absent tout conservative leanings.
Moderators John Davis of WGCU and Amy Bennett Williams of The News-Press served up nine questions ranging from declining enrollment to the role of technology, parental rights, lobbying, achievement gaps in schools and citizen and parental involvement. Each candidate had 90 seconds to answer each question, as well as a timed introduction and closing statement each.
Four seats on the Board of Education are up for a vote. The occupants of two of those seats will be determined in the primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 18. That's because there are just two candidates running in those districts. The other two positions will be determined if one of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote. If that doesn’t happen, the top two vote-getters will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Vying to represent District 1, the westernmost school district including the islands, are incumbent Sam Fisher and challenger Jenn McDaigle. Both have websites: See votesamfisher.com and jennforeverychild.com. Fisher has raised $54,200, with in-kind donations of $620; McDaigle has raised $7,474.14. The outcome of the Aug. 18 race will determine who’s in this seat.
Running to represent District 4, the northernmost district, are incumbent Debbie Jordan and challengers Carl Baxter, Tony Beougher and Gisele “Gigi” Gentile. Websites exist for all four candidates: see electtonyb.com, www.votecarl.com, gigi4schoolboard.com and debbiejordan2026.com. The email address for Baxter is cargofast@gmail.com. respectively. Baxter has raised $3,050 in his election bid. Beougher has raised $51,535 and $250 in in-kind donations. Gentile has raised $16,008. Jordan has raised $22,111.20 with an additional $1,197.33 in-kind donations.
Seeking to represent District 5, including much of east Lee County, is incumbent Armor Persons, plus challengers Crystal Johnson and Carline Saintilus. Persons’ website is armorpersons.com. Saintilus’ website is votesaintilussbd5.com. Johnson can be reached at crystaljohnsonsbd5@gmail.com. Johnson has raised $2,685.41. Persons has raised $53,359. Saintilus has raised $17,955.28, with in-kind donations of $2,2725 as well.
The District 6 school board member is an at-large representative for the entire school district. Running for that seat are incumbent Jada Langford-Fleming and challenger India Palencia. Langford-Fleming’s website is votejada.com; Palencia’s is palenciaforus.com. Langford-Fleming has raised the most of all school board candidates – $67,510 with $500 additional in-kind donations; Palencia has raised $39,675.43 plus in-kind donations of $1,630.83. The outcome of the Aug. 18 race will determine who’s in this seat.
