Parkland Victim Parent Lori Alhadeff Wins School Board Seat, Incumbents Take Others
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The races for seats on the Broward County School Board have been hotly contested and watched closely leading up to Tuesday's primary election.
The main reason for much of the attention and contention between candidates is the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School back in February that claimed the lives of 17 students and staff.
Five seats were up for grabs; four belonging to specific districts and one at-large that covers the entire county.
In District 4, school board member Abby Freedman decided not to seek re-election.
Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter Alyssa was killed in the massacre, has won her seat, defeating Tennille Doe-Decoste and Michael Kottler.
Alhadeff centered her campaign around school safety and wants to work towards changing gun laws in Florida.
In District 6, there were numerous contentious exchanges during early voting between candidates, incumbent Laurie Levinson and challenger Richard Mendelson, at various polling sites.
Davie police and Broward Sheriff's Office deputies were called out several times.
Ultimately, Levinson kept her seat, earning 56.34% of the votes.
Mendelson, a college professor and former Stoneman Douglas student and teacher, was a good friend of murdered coach Aaron Feis.
Mendelson has been vocal in his criticism of how the school board responded to the tragedy.
Levinson said the race is about more than Parkland. Her main focus has always been education.
In the race for the at large available seat, Seat 8, incumbent Donna Korn defeated Elijah Manley and Ryan Petty.
Petty's daughter Alaina was killed in the Parkland shooting.
Korn said she's been touched by the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas and acknowledged that she wants more resources to help students.
Korn did face criticism recently from April Schentrup, the mother of a Parkland victim, after Korn said at a meeting that it was an amazing school year last year.
Korn told CNN that her words were poorly chosen and that she wanted to reflect on some of the positive accomplishments elsewhere in the district.
In District 7, Nora Rupert retained her seat, defeating Mike Olbel and Hubert St. Clair.
The race in District 1 between Natalia Garceau, Ann Murray, Veronica Newmeyer and Jim Silvernale remains too close to call.
It appears a runoff could be in the cards between Murray and Silvernale.
