Florida Focus: April Griffin for Hillsborough County School Board District 6

I have been focusing a lot on Texas School Board elections because of the considerable influence Texas has on textbook publication throughout the country. But a Daily Kos article has alerted me to another important school board race: April Griffin for Hillsborough County School Board District 6 in Florida.

Here's info on April Griffen from her website:

April Griffin was elected to the School Board in 2006. She is one of seven members responsible for making policy decisions and overseeing a budget of $3.1 billion for the 8th largest school district in the nation, which is also the county’s largest employer with approximately 25,000 employees.

In spite of the financial crisis that has affected our entire nation, the Hillsborough County School Board, unlike other school districts; has not laid off one employee, closed one program, or closed one school, and still managed to bring $100 million dollars to the school district from the Gates Foundation to empower effective teachers. April remains steadfast in her commitment to these priorities.

She has been active in her children's schools for many years. Prior to her full-time commitment to the school board she was a successful business owner and long-time child and elder advocate. The Weekly Planet (now known as Creative Loafing) honored April with a "Best of The Bay" award for her humanitarian work with the medically needy.

She currently serves on the national Board of Directors of Youth Crime Watch of America, the Juvenile Justice Board for the 13th circuit, the Hillsborough County Council of Governments, and the Kids Healthcare Foundation. She is a Tampa Chamber of Commerce Leadership Tampa alumna.

April was born, reared, and educated in Hillsborough County. She and her husband Brian Griffin celebrated their 20 year anniversary in 2009. They are the proud parents of two sons. Her oldest son Randy graduated from Hillsborough County Public Schools in 2010 and her youngest son Chase still attends Hillsborough County Public Schools.

April Griffin stands ready to continue bringing positive change such as growing and improving career and technical programs, fiscal responsibility, and administrative oversight and accountability to the Hillsborough County School District.

April Griffin is being challenged by a right wing fundamentalist who seems about the worst kind of religious fanatic you can find. His name is Terry Kemple and he is a proud Teabagger. He is an anti-science creationist who also opposes sex-ed in schools and believes in the discredited abstinence only program (which has been shown to increase teen pregnancy). This is precisely the kind of fool we want to keep OFF our school boards. You can read more about Terry Kemple's insanity in this Daily Kos article.

This race is a prime example of a competent, intelligent, pro-science, pro-education member of a school board being challenged by a crazy, fundamentalist fanatic who wants religion to replace science...just like the Taliban. Please help support April Griffin for Hillsborough County School Board District 6. It is exactly this kind of race that gets ignored by progressives, allowing right wing fundamentalists to extend their control.