Mendel to Challenge Messenger for School Board

BRADENTON – Longtime educator and citizen activist Bridget Mendel has filed to run for school board district 1 against incumbent Gina Messenger. Mendel is a parent of three boys who have spent the last decade in the Manatee County Schools and says she's had enough with the district's mismanagement.

Mendel earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of New Hampshire and an M.S.Ed. in Elementary Education from the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY. She comes from multiple generations of teachers, starting with her mother, who she says was her inspiration for going into teaching with an emphasis on reading remediation and early childhood education.

Mendel is a long-time educator and is Florida certified, having taught in NY, the city of Chicago, its suburbs as well as here in Manatee County. Orton Gillingham and Reading Recovery trained, she has experience working in urban, suburban, homeschool and virtual settings.

Mendel has been a very vocal advocate of reducing the role of standardized testing in education. If elected, she says she "plans to make it clear that our children and teachers are more than a score."

"The high stakes attached to the state assessments must end, as well as our reliance on educational technology in place of highly trained, highly qualified educators, especially in remediation classes," said Mendel, who added that she wants to restore valuable instructional time and to invest in evidence-based materials and high-quality professional development for our teachers.

Mendel attended the state's recent Education Practices Committee settlement hearing, in which Manatee Schools Superintendent Cynthia Saunders effort to settle findings that she instructed employees to miscode dropouts as home school transfers was roundly rejected. Mendel said that witnessing the proceedings was what finalized her decision to run.

"Our children and teachers deserve a voice," said Mendel. "It would be an honor to be that voice in Manatee County, to restore the trust, transparency, and truth that the taxpayers have the right to expect from our school board."