Robbinson to run for Orange School Board chairman

Nancy Robbinson, who has been on the Orange County School Board since 2008, plans to run for board chairman, seeking the top elected role in the region’s largest school district.

Bill Sublette, the current chairman, is not seeking a third term because he is running for Orange County mayor in 2018.

So far, Robbinson is the only candidate to file for school board chairman, a role unique to Orange’s public school system, which enrolls more than 200,000 students.

Sublette was the first person to serve as school board chairman, after voters agreed to add an eighth member to the school board and make that position an elected countywide chairman. He took his seat in 2010.

All other Florida school boards choose their own chairman, and all others have an odd number of board members.

Orange’s school board chairman has most of the same duties as other board members, but that person also works with the superintendent to set the board meeting agendas and, in the case of a tie vote, his or her side wins.

The 2018 election looks to be a busy one for Orange school board races.

Two current board members, Joie Cadle and Daryl Flynn, are not seeking re-election and, already, nine candidates are vying for those two seats. Board member Linda Kobert is seeking re-election and has two challengers, and board member Christine Moore is running for Orange County Commission, meaning both her seat and Robbinson’s could also come open. Both women were re-elected to the school board in 2016.