NPE Action endorses Stephanie Vanos for Orange County School Board, District 6 in Florida.
The Network for Public Education Action proudly endorses Stephanie Vanos for Orange County School Board, District 6 in Florida. Stephanie has been a volunteer public education advocate for ten years. She has spent the last two years advocating at the state level for more education funding and against universal vouchers. Stephanie is the co-chair of HOPE (Help Out Public Education), she is a Trustee of the Track Shack Youth Foundation, and a member of the League of Women Voters (Orange County) Education Committee. The National Academy of Education asked Stephanie to participate as a discussant for a series of papers on how public education can best recover from COVID.
Stephanie told NPE Action that she is running for office because Florida needs to elect problem solvers to office. Stephanie feels that she has the background, experiences, and contacts in the community to be ready to work on day one as a connector, advocate, and problem solver on the Orange County School Board. Stephanie feels that there is so much at stake right now in public education, Floridians cannot afford to spend time and money on made up problems in schools or allow another divisive and disruptive member on the District 6 school board.
Stephanie told NPE Action that her top priority is to restore trust and respect for District 6 educators and treat educators as professionals. Stephanie feels that concrete actions she can take are to reduce the level of micromanagement of teachers, protect their planning time, and reduce their administrative burdens.
Stephanie believes strongly that District 6 needs knowledgeable and rational people on the school board. Her campaign message is centered around children and their ability to get a safe, high quality public education. Stephanie will advocate for all students to feel welcomed and supported at school because if a child’s basic needs are not met they are not able to learn to their fullest potential. When NPE Action asked Stephanie what she would do to improve public education she told us she would support policies that remove all district mandated testing. Stephanie also believes that there should be a peer reviewed and research based reading curriculum. She would increase community partnership schools and she would support discipline policies that are aimed at keeping students in school and finding ways to better engage them. Stephanie would advocate for policies that support the most marginalized students (students with disabilities, ELL students, poor students, and LGBTQ+ students) from all forms of bullying.
Finally, Stephanie feels that Florida is obsessed with solving made-up problems in public schools that squeeze schools financially, create additional pressure on teachers, and attack the most vulnerable students. Florida has book bans, teacher union busting laws, laws attempting to rewrite history, and laws attacking LGBTQ+ students and educators. All of these are a big concern for Stephanie. Stephanie also wishes to increase deeper connections between communities and schools. She believes that almost all issues are underpinned by the lack of funding for public education in the state of Florida.
NPE Action urges Florida public education supporters to get out the vote for Stephanie Vanos in the primary election on August 20th.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. Authorized and paid for by National for Public Education Action, PO Box 227. New York, NY 10156. 646-678-4477.