Lubby Navarro, the bureaucrat-turned-lobbyist who was appointed this week to the Miami-Dade School Board by Gov. Rick Scott will be sworn in this afternoon. But already, she’s got a challenge if for the 2016 election from 
teacher Carolina Blanco, who has spent the last eight years in a classroom teaching special needs students.
Blanco had submitted her name, along with several others, to fill the vacancy created by former School Board member Carlos Curbelo, who was elected to Congress in November. Navarro was picked out of others who were considered — including former School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Lynda Bell — without interviewing most of if not all the candidates. One has to wonder what the criteria was.
“I congratulate Lubby Navarro for getting the appointment from the governor to serve out Curbelo’s term.” said Blanco, who was voted Teacher of the Year in 2012. “But let this serve as notice that she won’t just be handed the job again in 2016.”
Looks like there’s gonna be a fight in the cafeteria. We don’t know if Navarro wants to run for the seat again in 2016, but we would expect her to. And, this time, she’s going to have to work for it. May be harder to sway thousands voters than it is move just one governor.
And those voters know Blanco already. More than 10,000 of them elected her to the community council 116 in District 11. She will start her campaign in earnest (read: walking door to door) this summer and set out to take the message and priorities of parents and voters in her district to the School Board.
Blanco is a graduate of Braddock High, Miami-Dade College and received her Bachelors in Public Administration from Florida International University. She and her husband of 14 years, a Miami-Dade firefighter, are both life long residents of Miami-Dade whose two children attend Miami-Dade Public Schools.
“Who better to help set the vision for the future of Miami-Dade Public Schools and its students than that from the eyes of a teacher,” Blanco said. “I know the system from the front lines. I am in the classroom and speak with parents every day,” Blanco said. “I know they would rather have a teacher representing their children’s best interests.
“I believe I can serve as the conduit between student, parents, and administrators and help advance educational policies. To do so, I need to start reaching out to voters now to let them know they have a choice.”
2016 School Board race begins as appointee is installed Friday added by Ladra on
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