Candidate Profile: Richard Murphy

BRADENTON – Richard Murphy made an 11th hour entrance into the Manatee School Board District 4 race, where three challengers will look to unseat board chair Scott Hopes in August's election. Murphy is a former teacher in Manatee Schools, and has extensive experience at all levels of school administration, as well as on a Florida school board.

A Florida native who grew up in Clewiston, Murphy came to Manatee County part-time in 2001 and made it his full-time home in 2014. His grandchildren have been going to Manatee County Schools since kindergarten, with the oldest now attending Lakewood Ranch High.

Murphy brings 14 years of experience (1994-2008) as a school board member in his native Hendry County, a small, rural district in south central Florida. His involvement on the board inspired him to go back to school and change careers, becoming a full-time middle school teacher in 2005 for Highlands County Schools.

In 2008, Murphy left the Hendry School Board when he was elected as the district's superintendent, where he served one term from 2008-12, during the height of the challenges brought on by the great recession. After being unseated in 2012, Murphy became an assistant principal at South Tech Academy, a public high school in Palm Beach County.

When Murphy came to Manatee in 2014, he began teaching at King Middle school. The next year he taught at Harllee Middle. In 2016 Murphy decided to become an elementary substitute in order to learn more about the daily instruction at that level before becoming a paraprofessional at Tillman Elementary to better understand such support roles.

Murphy feels as though his all-encompassing portfolio–which includes more board experience than any current Manatee School Board member–makes him uniquely qualified to understand board business from all angles.

"I understand the work of the district employees and the resources needed to support their work," said Murphy. "I also understand the role, authority and responsibility of the school board. I have worked as a classroom teacher and in high school and middle school administration, so I understand their work and the support they need from the district. My experience as a superintendent will help me provide support, understanding of the duties, and build an effective working relationship with the superintendent and provide leadership on the school board."

As the new board will be charged with finding a permanent superintendent, Murphy said he'd seek someone who would "work diligently with the school board, teachers, district staff, parents, and community stakeholders as a servant leader to provide the best educational opportunities for students and adults; someone who will provide good stewardship and be transparent with the district revenue and expenditures; someone who will keep all stakeholders that will include the school board, employees, parents, businesses, media and others informed of the happenings, both good and bad, in the schools."

Murphy said that school security is obviously a major concern in today's educational landscape and that he'd like to work with other board members, the superintendent and district staff to prioritize tax dollars for equipping each school with uniformed school resource officers, while working with the county commission and its county administrator, sheriff and city officials to maximize joint funding and Federal Cops Grant opportunities and lobbying state and federal legislators to prioritize funding for school law enforcement and secured school buildings.

Why should voters choose him from a field of four candidates?

"The best candidate will be decided by the voters," said Murphy, "and I believe that my experience will provide additional leadership to the district and support the administration, teachers and all employees. "