Why April Griffin needs to stay on Hillsborough County school board
The District 6 Hillsborough County School Board seat has been occupied by April Griffin for over seven years and, in my humble opinion, she needs your vote to stay there.
During comments published by Creative Loafing, Griffin confirmed her previous campaign promises, continues to be a vocal opponent to the status quo in the school system and is calling for improvements where others are quiet.
“I make no apologies for what I’ve done as a school board member,” Griffin told CL in August while speaking in our Ybor City offices. “I said from the beginning that I was going to question the administration. It’s in my campaign materials. I’ve said it in my stump speeches. I have said that I’m going to be there to ask the tough questions. If people don’t like it, then I don’t know what to say, because that’s my role. That’s what the people elected me to do.”
Griffin has opposed Superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools MaryEllen Elia over the investigation with the transportation department and met with officials in the transportation department who “were sharing all types of concerns about the way that employees were being treated.”
Sources tell The Dispatch that Griffin has looked into several complaints about administrations’ handling of their teachers as part of her “mission to bring more transparency to the board. CL notes that “Griffin takes pride in saying that former longtime School Board Attorney Thom Gonzalez no longer works with the District ‘because of me.'”
Her opponent, Dipa Shah, is a lawyer, the last thing I feel we need in the school system. Even the liberal TBT couldn’t endorse Shah: “Griffin should follow through on her commitments to shore up the transportation department, examine the teacher evaluation process and hold the Office of Professional Standards more accountable. Properly channeled, Griffin’s passion for children is an asset. She should take care to conduct herself professionally.”
I don’t want Common Core, lower standards and more layers of bureaucracy. I don’t want to sound critical of Shah, I just know that April is “fighting the good fight” and we need more of her.
The Global Dispatch doesn’t endorse candidates, but I do and I endorse April Griffin.
photo Brandon Jones
