The League of Women Voters of Manatee County Education Issues Committee observes the Manatee County School Board meetings for items of interest to citizens and the League and notes adherence, or lack of adherence, to good governance procedures and the sunshine laws. The following are the major points from the school board meeting on 8/26/25.
The meeting was called to order at 5:31 p.m. by Chair Choate, followed by his reading of the district vision. The invocation was given by Robert Bledsoe, pastor at Trinity Methodist Church. Chair Choate then led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Recognitions / Student Celebrations
Ms. Jamie Carson, Communication Director, introduced the celebrants.
Back to School Partnership with Bradenton Marauders
Using baseball terms, Ms. Carson thanked the Marauders for their support and hosting the August 2nd Back to School Bash. At the event, 1000 back packs were distributed and 30 agencies set up tables to engage with students and families. Craig Warzescha, Marauders CEO of Marketing, gave Superintendent Chapman an award and the Superintendent honored him with a Manatee School District plaque.
Career and Technical Education
Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) participants and staff were recognized as National Champions through this summer’s competition. There are seven CTSOs among Manatee school: FBLA, TSA, FCCLA, FFA, HOSA, Skills USA, and DECA. The Technology Students Association (TSA) Team from Braden River Middle School won first place in Mathematical Modeling. Braden River High School TSA had three teams – Biotechnology Design, Engineering Design and Promotional Design – that all were national champions. Electa Lee Middle School won the TSA national championship for Problem Solving.
Manatee County sent 225 participants representing 13 middle schools and high schools. Thirty-five of those students placed in the top ten.
Public Comments – There were no public comments.
New Business
Selection of Superintendent
Mr. Choate read a statement prepared by the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) regarding the role of everyone in the selection process. He then read an overview of the three steps for tonight’s discussion: reviewing the process, board discussion of the candidates, and then the vote for the new superintendent and process that will be followed in getting the new superintendent in place.
Chair Choate asked the Board for a discussion of the process.
Ms. Felton thanked FSBA for walking them through the process and said the support from their staff has been wonderful. She thanked the Manatee Education Foundation for the help during the process; she also thanked the public for all the feedback and those who came to the Meet and Greet. She said MTC was a great space for the Meet and Greet. Dr. Breslin and Dr. Mathis were outstanding in their responses to us throughout the process and she could easily work with either one of them.
Mr. Kennedy thanked FSBA for their guidance and support and agreed with all Ms. Felton said. He said he cannot hold a candle to either of the candidates’ resumes and felt like a pretender up here in making the decision. To put yourself in such a public space is outstanding. He also thanked the Nassau County School District for their support for Dr. Mathis.
Mr. Tatem thanked Ms. Cox for her part in the process. He agreed with all that had been said.
Ms. Spray agreed with all that had been said and added thanks to Dr. Vogel and said that phone calls with Mr. Dye were very supportive.
Mr. Choate said, “Ditto, Ditto, Ditto.” He praised Mr. Chapman for what he has done the past months and what he did to help the process was exceptional. We had two new board members going through the search process and all worked diligently.
Reflections on the candidates:
Ms. Felton said she felt a lot of pressure going first. She said both candidates were terrific with outstanding resumes. She said, “I can see myself working with either; they have different strengths.” She said this last week has been very hard making this decision. She decided Dr. Breslin edged out Dr. Mathis by already working in the district, knowing everyone, and will be able to fill the job more quickly.
Mr. Kennedy said he was also in favor of Dr. Laurie Breslin and that he has told Dr. Mathis she is on her way to a superintendency whether here or somewhere else. She has strong personal values. Dr. Breslin was a frontrunner for me from the beginning. He related that when he came to Manatee High School years ago, Laurie Breslin was the first person he ran into. She is the same person today as she was then. He said, after he was non-renewed, he stayed in touch with Dr. Breslin when he moved to Washington DC. On a professional level, the Board interviews demonstrated her intelligence, empathy, and decades of experience came though. Those who come up through this system can be proud to have one of their own.
Mr. Tatem said both finalists have the skills, intelligence, etc. to be our superintendent. In the military it was usually 75 from outside and 25 from inside. New ideas can flow in from someone outside the organization and inside the organization the person has relationships with the community as well as the organization. He said, “I will be supporting Dr. Breslin and to Dr. Mathis I want to say you have the skillset to be a superintendent.”
Ms. Spray described going through everyone’s resume, and using a mathematical scale. She said, “Dr. Mathis fell short on the number of students she serves in her county; Dr. Breslin got a perfect score from me.” She said she shared with Dr. Mathis she has the skills to run for the elected superintendency in Nassau County. She said her values did shine through. She explained she leaned toward Dr. Breslin as she does have the roots and skills. She said, “She has everything we need. I will be supporting Dr. Breslin.”
Mr. Choate said he agreed with all that had been said and that they both had almost the same experiences. He said, “I am not going to hide my pride in Manatee County and I think we all want to be the best. Dr. Mathis will have her time; I am supporting Dr. Breslin.” He pointed out this is a special time in Manatee County for students and employees to see everyone can be a leader and even leading your own school district.
Ms. Spray moved and Ms. Felton seconded the motion that passed 5-0 for Dr. Breslin to become Superintendent once negotiations led by Chair Choate with Attorney Dye are complete.
Mr. Choate introduced Dr. Laurie Breslin as the new Superintendent. Dr. Breslin thanked the Board, Mr. Chapman, her family for all their support. With the staff, she said, “We will all be back at work tomorrow.” Board Members each congratulated her and expressed their high expectations for her success.
Reports and Presentations
2025-2026 Focus on Early Literacy
Mr. Jensen introduced Allison Nichols, Director of Elementary Curriculum and Dr. Vanessa Morasco, ELA Coordinator, who are responsible for leading the Summer Reading Camp and the Summer Bridge Program. Ms. Nichols introduced Dr. Morasco as a product of Manatee school and holds a doctorate in reading from USF.
Summer Reading Camp provides an additional opportunity for 3rd graders to move to 4th grade. Comparing two-year results, the percent of 3rd grade retentions fell from 14% (516) in 2024 to 11% (385) in 2025. Of the 366 students attending Summer Reading Camp, 46% (168) were promoted.
The Summer Bridge Program consisted of 4 hours of instruction per day for a minimum of 100 hours for sixteen Pre-K students.
[LWV Note: The presentation slides can be viewed here: https://legistarweb-
Consent Items - 33 items were approved 5-0.
New Business (Non-Consent Items)
Approval of New High School AAA – Agreement Between Owner and Schenkel and Shultz, Inc. – Amendment 1 – in the Amount of $1,176, 648.00 (Capital Funds) – Approved 4-1 with Mr. Tatem voting no.
Mr. Tatem said we are paying too much per student station in constructing schools. There will be new guidelines coming from the legislators. He hopes at a future workshop the district can get ahead of this cost per student station by creating a process. He said, “I know we can build quality schools for a lot less money. I will be voting no.” He added that by spending so much on building new schools we are not able to maintain the infrastructure at schools we have.
Ms. Spray said she understands where Mr. Tatem is coming from but “with the growth we are experiencing, we are being forced into this.” She said she would like to read documents about this new law. She reminded everyone that there are 44,000 permits for building new homes. Cost per student station has gotten out of hand in many districts. “We can’t do it ourselves. Charter schools can do things we can’t or must do so they are on two different levels.”
Mr. Choate stated he agrees with lowering cost per student stations but the Board needs to compare “apples to apples.” Money for new schools cannot be used to combat the impact on existing schools’ needs (deferred maintenance).
Ms. Felton agreed we need to look at deferred maintenance issues but we need to move forward with building the new high school. She said the Board needs a workshop and she is looking forward to Mr. Pendley bringing that information to it.
Approval of New High School AAA – Agreement Between Owner and Gilbane Building Company, in the Amount of $522,340.00. (Capital Funds) – Approved 4-1 with Mr. Tatem voting no.
New Business (No Superintendent Recommendation)
Approval of Proposed Revision to the Audit Committee Charter which will merge with the Citizens’ Financial Oversight Committee (CFOC) into the Audit Committee – updated 8-22-2025
Attorney Dye, Ms. Spray and Mr. Kennedy outlined the draft charter that merges the Citizen Financial Oversight Committee with the Audit Committee. Both have served as citizen oversight groups. CFOC has responsibility for monitoring millage funds and the Audit Committee monitors the use of the sales tax. It has been difficult to get volunteers for both committees. Mr. Choate suggested increasing the members of the new committee to be from 3-9 members with the majority of the membership being active, inactive, or retired CPAs or others who have experience in school district finances. There was agreement that the audit group RSM will serve as the conduit between the committee and the district to provide reports requested by the committee. Since AFSCME and MEA were formerly non-voting members and they do benefit from the decisions, Board Members agreed they can attend meetings that are open to the public and voice their opinions. Mr. Jim Daniels, CPA, chairperson of the Audit Committee, also offered suggestions for the draft.
The decision was not to vote on the document at this time. The Board will approve the new charter following agreed upon edits.
Updates
Instruction – Mr. Jensen thanked students, school and district staff for all their work for the start of the 2025-2026 school year. He said he started the year at Palm View K-8 supervising kindergarten lunches and gained a whole new respect. Progress Monitoring (PM1) assessments will take place the second week of September for ELA and the third week of September for math. He recognized Dr. Sheila Halpin as also part of early learning and announced the Soar In 4 lab will have its opening on September 19th at 9:00 a.m. at Harllee campus.
Legal – Mr. Dye provided a status report on the Manatee County Tax Collector’s plan to place a 2% commission on the millage it gathers. Apparently, the Sarasota County Tax Collector has also notified their school board of the same intent. Mr. Dye said his opinion is that this commission is not clearly supported by statute. He has had informal discussions with the tax collector and they are going to ask the attorney general for an opinion interpreting the statute. The other avenue is to ask for a declaratory judgment from the circuit court. Neither is a rapid process. Mr. Dye interprets that it is not a flat 2% but 2% of what their costs are and we do not think they know what the actual costs are. Since there are now 20 counties with school district millage, the Tax Collectors Association has gotten involved. Mr. Choate thinks the board should make it a legislative agenda item.
Superintendent Remarks, and also, for Mr. Ranaldi. (The retirement of Mr. Ranaldi was in the HR report on the consent agenda. It will be effective September 3.)
Regarding Operations Mr. Chapman pointed out that the Board approved two items on the consent agenda that will result in Lake Manatee being a full K-8 by next fall and the last academic building for Barbara Harvey K-8 will begin with the goal of being open next August if the permitting process can be expedited. He thanked all the parents and the community for their patience especially when it comes to our bus fleet. He said he thinks we had the best start this year ever with a “few hiccups this week.” He concluded that he and his teammates are excited to start working for and with Dr. Breslin. He thanked the Board for a very transparent and open process for the selection of the new superintendent.
Board Comments
Mr. Tatem’s safety tip involved heat stroke saying there was one case at one of our schools so be very careful; if you are hot and you are not sweating, you are having a problem.
Ms. Felton let the board know she had the pleasure of attending the HCA Healthcare ER ribbon cutting for their food services programming. There were 96 students from Parrish Community High School there in their scrubs who took a tour of the new facility. Since she attended this board meeting virtually due to illness in her home, she thanked Ms. Cox and everyone for keeping her connected to the meeting.
Mr. Kennedy thanked Mr. Chapman for being “our bridge.” He said this is one of his proudest moments as a board member and shared the optimism that Dr. Breslin is the Superintendent. He thanked the community for all the input and said, “Let us know when we mess up and advocate.” He asked principals to invite Board Members if you have something going on.
Ms. Spray said student celebrations and presentations on reading gains are letting us know we are doing our job. Picking a superintendent is one of our biggest jobs and having this one being home based is good.
Chair Choate thanked staff for getting everything ready today. The Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards is meeting the next couple days and there is a Board Workshop on Friday.
Meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m.
Board Members’ questions about the summer programs indicate a fuller grasp of concepts of teaching and learning, and assessment. The discussion about taking lessons learned to scale during the school year was helpful as well as how to encourage more parents to send their retained third graders to Summer Reading Camp.
The observers commend Board Members who ask clarifying questions that they know the public would be interested to know even if the Board Member already knows. An example was when Mr. Choate asking for the curriculum team to explain exactly what a literacy coach does.
As we transition to a new Superintendent, the observers look forward to the continued emphasis on teaching and learning within the School Board business. Prior to our last Superintendent, Dr. Wysong, there were few reports or information about instruction. We are confident that the practice will continue.
Perhaps the Board would consider tying up loose ends regarding transparency of the superintendent search process. The community survey responses regarding the two finalists and Mr. Kennedy’s recording of his one-on-one interview with each of the candidates have not yet been made available.
[LWV MC Note: We add our congratulations and best wishes for success to Dr. Laurie Breslin, the new Superintendent.]
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