The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg area launches virtual candidate forum series Thursday

The League of Women Voters of the St. Petersburg Area is kicking off its Thursday Nights With The League series of virtual forums Sept. 3 with the four candidates vying for spots on the Pinellas County School Board. 

They are: 

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.

Hine and Meyer are competing for the district 1 seat, while Edmond and Nurse are seeking the district 7 seat. The candidates first met during the primary election August 18, where Hine and Nurse earned the highest number of votes. However, because none of the candidates earned more than 50 percent of the vote, they will meet again in the general election Nov. 3. 

Thursday’s virtual forum will begin at 7 p.m. and is being moderated by St. Pete Catalyst publisher Joe Hamilton. The Catalyst is the League’s digital media partner, and will provide closed captioning for the series of forums. To watch the event live on Facebook, click here. To watch it on YouTube, click here.

Future forums include the candidates for Pinellas County Sheriff (Sept. 10), the candidates for Pinellas County Commission (Sept. 17), the candidates for Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections (Sept. 24) and candidates for the Pinellas County Tax Collector (Oct. 1).