School board candidates to speak at Wednesday’s Suncoast Tiger Bay virtual forum

Wednesday (Oct. 21)  at noon, The Suncoast Tiger Bay Club will hold a virtual forum featuring the candidates running for Pinellas County School Board District 1 and 7. They are:

The candidates for District 1:

• Stephanie Meyer, a middle school history teacher at Keswick Christian School with a sales and marketing background. Her interest areas include recruiting and retaining teachers, expanding mental health counseling for all students, protecting and expanding school choice and community engagement. Meyer will not be attending the forum but plans to send a statement. 
• Laura Hine, a local businesswoman, Navy veteran and public education advocate with an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA in finance from USF. Her priorities are equity in education, support for educators and optimization of financial resources. 

The candidates for District 7:

• Caprice Edmond, a Fairmount Elementary science coach and lab teacher with an extensive background in volunteering as an advocate for children. Her areas of interest include educational equity, targeted academic success initiatives, school safety and family and community engagement. 
• Karl Nurse, a former City Council member and owner of Bay Tech Label in St. Petersburg who is campaigning under the slogan “better schools, better jobs.” His company adopted Melrose Elementary through the Council for Educational Change’s Executive PASS program aimed at leadership development.answer session moderated by Matt Lettellier, advocacy manager at the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. 

During the forum, the candidates will share their platforms and positions and will then participate in a question-and-answer session moderated by Matt Lettellier, advocacy manager at the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. 

The event is free of charge for Tiger Bay members and $5 for non-members, though organizers encourage donating the $25 price of the regular lunch meeting. Money raised goes to support continuing programming and support for the Young Tigers Scholarship Program.

A link to the Zoom video will be sent via email the day before the event and the day of the event. The registration deadline is Wednesday at 11 a.m. To sign up, click here. 

Other upcoming events include a series of free online forums on issues affecting Florida voters that are being held in conjunction with nine other Tiger Bay clubs across the state. 

• Friday, Oct. 23 at noon: a panel discussion on Amendment 2, which would establish a $15 statewide minimum wage
• Thursday, Nov. 12 at noon: an analysis of the Florida election

For more information on how to watch, visit Suncoast Tiger Bay’s Facebook page or website.