Alhadeff best choice for District 4
Lori Alhadeff ’s daughter was murdered inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February. That horrific fact alone does not mean that she would be an effective member of the Broward County School Board.
But Alhadeff, 43, is a smart woman who has done lots of homework since the Parkland tragedy. And on Aug. 28, voters should elect her to the District 4 seat, which includes Parkland, Coral Springs and Tamarac. Incumbent Abby Freedman will not seek reelection.
Alhadeff is running against Tennille Doe-Decoste, 41, whose son’s close friend was one of the 17 people killed on Feb. 14; and Michael Kottler, whose two children have attended Broward public schools.
If one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate wins the seat outright. If no one gets more than 50 percent, the two who get the most votes on Aug. 28 will face each other on Nov. 6.
Alhadeff is angry that an unhinged teenager with a long documented record of violent behavior could so easily walk into a public high school with an assault weapon. But she brings more to the race than her ire and grief.
She has a master’s degree in education and taught health and physical education for five years in New Jersey before her family moved to Parkland in 2003. During her endorsement interview with the Sun Sentinel, she was organized and composed.
Florida schools need more money from the Legislature, she said in her Sun Sentinel questionnaire. “We lag far behind the national average in per pupil funding,” she said. “I will use my voice and relationships to help lobby for more money up in Tallahassee.”
Since the shooting, Alhadeff has been active in Make Schools Safe Inc., an organization dedicated to school safety. She traveled to Tallahassee with other Parkland parents to lobby legislators to pass gun control and provide money to make schools safer.
Her status as a Parkland parent is another reason to vote for her. She would have capital in the Capitol. State legislators would ignore her at their peril. Further, she knows the pain of lax school security like only a victim’s parent could. She was dismayed in the days after the death of her daughter, Alyssa, how school district officials treated her.
“No one from the school district came to the seven days I sat shiva at my house, and no one from the district sent a condolence card or flowers,” she said.
By running for School Board, Alhadeff believes she is doing what her daughter would want. “I know that Alyssa would have wanted me to be part of the solution to the problems that were exposed that day.”
Doe-Decoste said she is a candidate because of the Parkland killings, too. Shooting victim Joaquin Oliver was a close friend of her family. And her daughter still attends Stoneman Douglas.
“As a mother, I want to be able to provide programs focusing on mental health to create a safe and secure academic environment for all of our children,” said Doe-Decoste, who is the Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Miramar.
Kottler said he shares the same concerns as the two women seeking the seat, but the impetus for his candidacy, he said, was the district’s response to his complaint about the way his son was treated by a basketball coach.
He said his son sustained a concussion playing basketball and the coach continued to have the boy play. Kottler said he confronted several people in the school system and never got satisfaction. He said he would be just as determined to get answers as a School Board member.
Kottler is employed with Terminix.