Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Hixon faces runoff for seat on school board
Debra “Debbi” Hixon, the widow of the athletic director killed in the Parkland school shooting, and Jeff Holness will move to a runoff election for Broward School Board.
No candidate received 50% of the vote in Tuesday’s election; Hixon and Holness were the top two votegetters. The two will face off on Nov. 3.
The tragedy of the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High spurred Hixon, a teacher from Hollywood, into trying to serve in public office. Her husband Chris was among the 17 students and staff killed at the school.
Holness, a cousin of the county mayor, was making his fifth run for public office.
“They need the voice of a teacher who has been in the school system,” said Hixon, who is the magnet coordinator at South
Broward High School and has taught for 31 years, on Tuesday night. “We need to do things better on the School Board.”
The seat was open because
Robin Bartleman, the longestserving current member of the Broward School Board, successfully ran for a seat in the Florida House.
■ In the Broward School Board District 3 race, Sarah Leonardi, a high school English teacher, defeated incumbent Heather Pomper Brinkworth, who was elected to the board in March 2014. Leonardi was voted Teacher of the Year at Coconut Creek High School in 2016.
■ Patricia Good and Rosalind Osgood were elected without opposition to the School Board.
■ Two Broward County commissioners were re-elected: Tim Ryan and Dale Holness.
Ryan has served on the commission since 2012 and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Holness, who is serving as the appointed county mayor, has served on the commission since 2008. He was elected to the Lauderhill City Commission from 2000 through 2008.
■ Commissioners Michael Udine, Steve Geller and Nan Rich were elected without opposition.
■ In Pembroke Pines, Angelo Castillo returned to the City Commission in a special election that had been called to replace the seat he had left empty.
Castillo had resigned his seat effective the date the mayor was sworn in when he ran for mayor in March even though he had two years left.
He lost that election to incumbent Mayor Frank Ortis.
Tuesday’s election was for the remainder of Castillo’s former term, which ends March 2022. Castillo has been on the City Commission since 2004, with the exception of the past five months.
“I am humbled to be in service to the people of Pembroke Pines once more,” he said Tuesday night. “And I’m very thankful for their confidence in me.”