An advocate of soda sales in the schools, Danny Dunn, 18, of Springstead High may run in District 4.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published March 18, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - Three-term School Board member Jim Malcolm, who faced no opposition in his 2000 election bid, has drawn a fourth challenger in this year's District 4 race.
Springstead High School senior Danny Dunn, 18, launched his campaign this week by filing preliminary paperwork with the Supervisor of Elections Office on Monday. During public comments to the board a day later, Dunn criticized Malcolm's efforts to remove sodas from county schools.
"I don't agree with that at all," Dunn said after the meeting. "If kids want their Coke, they're going to get it. The School Board can't really affect it that much."
Dunn stressed, though, that his candidacy was not born of the soda issue. Rather, he said, his 13 years in the county public schools opened his eyes to things that needed fixing.
Specifically, he called for improved instruction, higher teacher pay to keep the best educators and attract others and increased availability of advanced course work.
"Also, I don't like that beginning teachers get paid less than School Board members," Dunn said, adding that he would return 20 percent of his salary to the school district if elected.
School Board members set their own salary annually. This year, their pay is $29,208. A starting teacher earns $28,000.
Dunn has posted his platform on his campaign Web site, www.dunn04.com which he said is still a work in progress. Among his positions are calls for adding more extracurricular activities using existing resources, placing student and teacher representatives on the School Board, and, when necessary, cutting administration positions to save money.
While he supported the half-percent sales tax referendum and the construction projects the revenue will fund, Dunn remained skeptical, however, about any additional tax increases to cover operation costs.
In addition to his schoolwork, Dunn is a drum instructor and works part time at Winn-Dixie. He plans to study journalism or political science, and is considering attending the University of Central Florida or the University of South Florida.
Also challenging Malcolm are church youth coordinator Adam Frazier, homemaker Bernadette Nata and projects control engineer Keith Dingman. Candidates have until June 21 to qualify by petition and until July 16 to pay the $1,168 fee to qualify.
District 2 board member Gail David also is up for re-election. So far, only county parks director Pat Fagan has filed to run for that seat.
The primary election for these nonpartisan positions is Aug. 31. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the top two will move to the Nov. 2 general election.
