Diane Scott is currently serving her eighth year on the Santa Rosa County School Board and is excited about her many plans for the next term.
“We’re coming out of the extreme budget crunch,” she said. Scott believes the period of financial distress is coming to an end. She said she expects more flexibility with the upcoming growth mode. “We’ll need more portables with the growth we’re experiencing,” she said.
Scott said the big issue the school board is dealing with is Florida State Standards, also known as Common Core.
“It’s a change not welcome to most. I’ve gone to Tallahassee to explain by implementing Common Core and basing teacher’s standards on this system with no validation isn’t the right thing. It’s resource heavy with no extra money,” she said.
Scott said currently the county has control in how standards are implemented but certain standards still must be met.
“We can lobby Tallahassee for change and modification of the mandate. Some states have completely pulled out of Common Core and some have made modifications to the standards,” she said. Teachers who are comfortable with their content and can make changes to meet criteria will be successful, she said, however, the standards bring uncertainty and the feeling of being forced.
Scott said it’s important to hear from everyone. She represents teachers, students, business owners, bus drivers, parents, everyone is a constituent.
“My plan is to continue ensuring fairness in evaluations, fiscal responsibility, class size, academic performance,” she said.
She said the people need to look at qualifications of each candidate. “I believe I am the best qualified person for the position,” she said. Scott has a doctorate degree in social work, and has experience as an educator as a University of West Florida professor with 14 years of classroom experience.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Diane Scott looks for re-election to SRC School Board