A Miami Lakes man connected to Ron DeSantis and charter schools could challenge longtime Miami-Dade School Board Member and current Chair Perla Tabares Hantman.
Roberto J. Alonso is a trustee at Miami Dade College, appointed by the governor in 2020, and a civic leader with roles on the Miami-Dade planning and zoning board, the Miami Lakes charter review and public safety committees, and the Loch Lomond Homeowners Association, where he served as president. He filed paperwork on Monday intending to run against Tabares Hantman.
On Tuesday, he joined DeSantis at Miami Dade College press conference for the signing of Senate Bill 7034, which aims to provide a pathway to college and career readiness for foster kids.
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Two months ago, he joined MDC President Madeline Pumariega and other trustees on a trip to Tallahassee. “We spent the day advocating for our students, education and workforce training programs that will grow our economy and fuel much-needed talent in emerging industries,” Alonso posted on his LinkedIn.
In 2017, Alonso helped raise capital and develop a school choice platform named SchoolMint, described as “a student enrollment software that allows parents to easily merge their child’s educational needs with the proper school environment.” It has also been called a tool that allows schools to recruit and retain students.
Since 2019, Alonso has been vice president of business development at Costa Realtors Corp. His wife owns an adult day care in Miami Lakes and a home health care service.
Tabares Hantman has been on the school board since 1996. This is her seventh term. That’s more than a quarter of a century. She ran unopposed for two other four-year terms and then won four re-election contests — including a 2010 challenge from Manny Diaz, Jr., who went on to become a state rep and is now a state senator.
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She represents District 4, which covers Miami Lakes, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens. And she was the first Hispanic woman to serve as chair, a position she has held multiple times.
Tabares Hantman, a close confidante of former Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, only filed her first paperwork last week, so neither candidate has any funding to report.
She is one of four incumbents whose terms are up this year. The others are Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, who has been challenged by La-Shanda West, a social studies teacher and iPrep Academy lead teacher at Cutler Bay Senior High, and Marta Perez and Maria Teresa Rojas, who have $157,000 and $133,000 raised so far, respectively, but no challenge.
Yet.
Las malas lenguas say state Republican operatives are trying to recruit candidates to run against the three women, who were not seen as supportive of DeSantis during the mask mandate controversy.
Alonso might just be the first.
Miami-Dade School Board veteran Perla Tabares Hantman draws challenger added by Ladra on
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Gripe about School Board taxes, with three cars in the driveway? And, you don’t want to pay the teachers? .
Thank god someone is running against this 🦕 that cannot be effective anymore.
Don’t worry Perla. You talk about developers. Does the name Julio Robiana south right to you. Like you say opponent research.
Glad someone is running against this lady that has raised our taxes year after years. Time to drain the school board.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CcYoXohMxdo/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Be afraid. Be very afraid… when you hear the conservatives scream “indoctrination”, they’re projecting. They are master projectors.
Sorry but she’s is the poster cover for term limits. She’s beyond her shelf life and it shows. I hope all the incumbents get challengers. She’s the reason for the high taxes that you see for the school board. Be gone
Ahhhhhh, yesssss. Clairvoyant might be onto something. Poor Manny. His once bestie one-uppin him? It’s all so fitting. The GOPers, all poseurs, devouring each other. The carnage. Dreadsantis steamrolling. The ole gal didn’t bend to him like the thirsty white guys. And by “white”, the reference is to race. Cuz only in Dade County, could gullible Cubans think they fit in with the GOP c(k)lan. Similar to the self-loathing (closeted) queers thinking they’re accepted in the Dade Republican fraternity. It’s so amusing. But I digress. The factions within might be split. Manny’s haters might also be Hantmans lovers. And now Alonso tasked with effin up the pieces like a pigeon on a chess board. Gonna be interesting indeed. Popcorn in short supply. Share Clairvoyant. Share, dammit!
We need real term limits in all public elected seats, even if that mean 12 or 16 years at a maximum or in situations where there is no one else running for a given seat.
The school board should revamp its rules for electing board members. They should be educators or have some sort of genuine, educational interest, background or course study.
We ought also be very concerned with electing anyone who is tied to developers, as these are eyeing our public lands and school grounds, which should be strictly preserved for public and educational uses.
Here, in Hialeah, we already fought off an intent to build on school grounds. Let’s see if a 3rd or 4th candidate will throw his/her name on the ballot for our district’s school board member.
Would you please do an expose on Rojas, Gimenez sister in law? She has placed friends in administrative positions across District 6. They are lazy and turning schools into a slacker playground. Key Biscayne Public has been a victim of her family & friends politics.
Mrs. Clairvoyant Is Manny Cid writing on here. Your done buddy. You won’t be able to run for dog catcher buddy boy. Enjoy what you got left and learn to cook better.
You can try to dig something that ain’t there. That family is solid. In fact, the republican wave is coming and he has the backing of probably all politicians in the 3 city’s. Bovo, and all the state folks are going with him. She’s out of gas. Time to retire the old horse. As for Cid he was going to run in that seat. Ouch. He won’t try against Alonso. Cid is on an island by himself.
Drain the swamp!!!!
Mrs. Hantman is not a novice. She is a seasoned politician. I am sure that her team will uncover lots of dirt during opposition research on Robert Alonso. His connection to developers that have damaged Miami Lakes will come out. We can also be sure to see his ties to charter schools, and the real estate industry. And let’s not forget that Manuel Cid must be fuming that his opportunity to continue sucking from the tit of public pensions has possibly been cut short. I mean, Manuelito was aiming for this seat for a long time. Oh well, let’s see if Manuelito will throw Robertico under the bus.
I think I will buy a case of popcorn on Amazon.
She’s needs to retire. Changes are coming to school boards. She needs to go. Much younger voters will vote for the challenger. She should leave gracefully
This is great news because she’s been there to long. All the money in the world won’t help her when all the Hialeah folks endorse the new candidate. She’s done.