The races for the Volusia County School Board start in earnest after this week, when the eight candidates who've announced plans to run for three seats qualify for the election.
The qualifying period officially ends at noon Friday, when candidates must submit a petition with about 700 signatures, depending on the district, or a fee equal to 4 percent of the position's annual salary, $38,318.
While that still gives time for a surprise candidate to emerge, here's a rundown on the candidates who've qualified through Thursday, according to the Supervisor of Elections’ website.
The seats for District 1, District 3 and District 5 are all up for election this year. Most candidates plan to focus on school security, vocational education and improving graduation rates if elected for a four-year term.
District 1
Citing time constraints, District 1 board member Dr. John Hill said he won’t seek re-election for the seat that represents much of West Volusia.
“The primary reason is I wanted to have time with my family,” said Hill, a family practitioner, with a son who just graduated high school and a daughter in third grade. Hill qualified Thursday for the ballot for a seat on the West Volusia Hospital Authority, running against Voloria Manning.
There are hopes to keep the School Board seat in the family, with his sister, Jamie Haynes, seeking office for the first time.
Haynes, 52, is a former teacher who works for the district as a coordinator in the federal programs and grants department. She said she’s planned to run for a seat on the School Board since she started teaching in the county three decades ago.
“I remember thinking, ‘When I have my 30 years in, I’m still going to be young, not of retirement age. Maybe that’s another way I can serve,’” she said.
She'd been asking her brother if he intended to run again, and when Hill said no, Haynes told him “thank you very much,” and filed her own papers.
Haynes identified school security, getting teachers the resources they need, offering opportunities to students that aren’t designed just to get them to college and retaining teachers as areas that she plans to focus on.
Leslie LaRue, part of the “3 moms” trio who became known for attending School Board meetings and starting a social media campaign to make parents’ voices heard, will also be going for the vacant seat.
LaRue, 48, has been involved with the district since 2004 as a substitute teacher, leader of parent organizations and school advisory councils and a registrar since 2004. Among her priorities is early childhood education, which LaRue believes will deter students from dropping out of school and ultimately boost its graduation rate.
"We have a chance to change what’s happening in our community, by educating as many students as possible and giving them a better life,” she said previously.
Bill Kelly of DeLand announced plans to run for the same seat earlier this year, but said this week he's dropping out, citing health issues.
District 3
In District 3, two newcomers are challenging incumbent Linda Cuthbert for a chance to represent Southeast Volusia.
A former educator who said her job's not finished yet, Cuthbert, 65, has her sights set on continuing to raise graduation rates.
"Our graduation rates need to continue to improve," she said. "We need to think outside the box when it comes to our students and their ability to have a job, a career or (pursue the) military."
Kerry Lyons, 51, believes his experience in security will make him a strong asset to the School Board. The Port Orange resident is set to retire in July after 30 years in the Coast Guard reserves, and is a safety and occupational health manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said his main focus would be security, followed by vocational training for students. Lyons said he’d like to see the district begin to develop its own security forces, including the use of nonuniformed officers in schools.
“The School Board owns this (issue) and they need to step up,” he said. “Security is something that is never going to go away in the U.S.”
John Nelson, a 50-year-old father of five, sees serving as a new way to participate in his children’s education. He has two kids still in Volusia schools — one in elementary school and one in high school.
The newcomer is a career chemical engineer and now a lawyer. He also wants to focus on vocational education and security, as well as fiscal responsibility.
“I want to focus to make sure the budget’s managed with the responsibility that the taxpayers expect, and at the same time reduce burden on teachers,” he said.
District 5
District 5 incumbent Melody Johnson, 50, was elected in 2014 as a "mom on a mission." She, too, has said her work on the School Board representing Southwest Volusia isn't finished yet.
She plans to continue enhancing the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) programs offered by Volusia schools, as well as build on the district's graduation rates, expand advanced programs, finish the district's community plan with one-to-one technology and safer schools, and see through the replacement of Deltona Middle School.
"I want to continue to effect positive change," she said.
Ruben Colon wants to focus on improving what he views as an "inequality" between Volusia's east and west sides in the number of career and technical education programs offered to students.
"In my eyes, because (the west side of the district) has increased challenges, that's where the funding should go ... regardless of perceived parental involvement or desire," said the respiratory therapist for Florida Hospital.
Colon would like to see the board members shift their attention from state-level battles around funding frustrations to what changes they can control within the district — including equitable spending.
Robert Mann works as a preacher in Central Florida and is an electrical engineer for the Kennedy Space Center.
The 50-year-old has said he would have a unique edge in sorting through problems in the district, calling himself "a professional problem solver." He wouldn't cite a particular issue to address, but he said the welfare of the district's teachers would be a priority for him.
"I would make sure that they would have all the tools that they would need to be successful as teachers and educators," he said.