In district 2, candidates speaking are…Paul J. Ackerman and Karen Almond. Neither candidate is the incumbent. In district 5, candidates speaking are…Tina Calderone, Becky Erwin and Jeanne Morris. Jeanne Morris is the incumbent.

The candidate portion of this feature runs 1 hour 17-minutes in addition to 5-minutes of event rules and League announcements.

Feature Length — 01:28:28

One of the 2 candidates in district 2 will be elected on August 24 with more than 50% of the vote. One of the 3 candidates in district 5 will be elected on August 24 PROVIDED the winning candidate receives 50% plus 1 of the votes cast. If not, a run off election between the 2 district 5 candidates receiving the most votes will occur on November 2nd

Not participating was district #1 incumbent Diane Bauer. She had no candidate opposition by qualifying deadline and was therefore automatically seated for another term.

The winning candidate in each district will be seated on the school board at its meeting after the November general election.

Early voting will begin August 9. Absentee voting is now underway. Voting at precincts in Seminole County will take place on Tuesday, August 24.

The school board member office is non-partisan. The term of each of the 5 public school board members is 4 years. A member may serve an unlimited number of terms if re-qualified and elected. A school board member’s annual salary is set by the Florida legislature at $ 36,000 which is the equivalent of the district’s compensation for a first year teacher with a baccalaureate degree.

This event — known by the League as a “Voter Forum” — was held Wednesday evening, July 28, 2010 at Crooms Academy of Information Technology, a magnet high school in Sanford, Florida. The forum drew more than 125 League and PTA members and members of the public. The event was hosted by Deana Schott, immediate past president of the League, and Laura Joralemon, president of the Seminole County Council of PTA. The Q/A portions were moderated by Wayne Weinberg, president of Leadership Seminole and Envision Seminole.

Key Participants

Deana Schott immediate past president, League of Women Voters of Seminole County

Wayne Weinberg president, Leadership Seminole and Envision Seminole.

Candidates for Seminole County School Board

Contact information was provided by the candidate to the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections or is from candidate promotion material

District #2

Paul J. Ackerman 1634 Tiverton Street Winter Springs, Florida 32708 407-619-3438 website | E-mail

Karen Almond P.O. Box 180006 Casselberry, Florida 32718 website | E-mail

District #5

	Tina Calderone P.O. Box 953491 Lake Mary, Florida 32795-3491 407-509-2346 website | E-mail		Becky Erwin P.O. Box 952855 Lake Mary, Florida 32795 website
	Jeanne Morris 1921 Wingfield Drive Longwood, Florida 32779 407-782-6592 website | E-mail

Pictures

(Photos courtesy – GK Sharman and CMF Public Media)

After you launch the slideshow below, click “Next” and “Previous” to rotate through the photos.

Additional Useful Links

• Seminole County Public Schools
• Florida Department of State – Division of Elections
• League of Women Voters of Seminole County
• Seminole County Council of PTA
• League of Women Voters of Florida

Panel Discussion Summary

Program Summary (to be posted here when provided by the League)

Candidates not participating were district # 37 incumbent Republican Scott Plakon who is unopposed in both the primary and general election, in addition to 4 other candidates not appearing – Republicans Rick Joyce (district # 25), Jason Brodeur (district # 33), incumbent Chris Dorworth (district # 34) and Tea Party candidate John DeVries (district # 34). Devries and Dorworth have no primary opposition.

State Senate candidates have been invited to speak at a separate League event, which will also be presented on the Heard in Central Florida series.

Feature Length — 56:49

Key Participants

Deana Schott Immediate Past President, League of Women Voters of Seminole County

District #25

Larry Metz Republican P.O. Box 57 Yalaha, Florida 34797-0057 352-324-9752 email | website

Frank Lane Wood Democrat P. O. Box 1273 Eustis, Fl., 32727 352-589-4702 email | website

District #33

	Leo Cruz Democrat 407.902.9853 email | website		James DeCocq Republican 1906 Torchwood Dr. Orlando, Florida 32828 407.285.1776 email | website
	Ellen Paul Libertarian (321) 257-9725 email | website		Franklin Perez Libertarian 4250 Alafaya Trail, #212-170 Oviedo, Florida 32765 407-694-7805 email | website
	Alice Sterling (represented by Jeff Deen) Republican 407-341-1213 email | website

District #34

Steve Barnes Democrat 400 West Crystal Drive Sanford, Fl 32773 407-417-1628 email | website

Pictures

After you launch the slideshow below, click “Next” and “Previous” to rotate through the photos.

Additional Feature Information

• Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Office
• Florida House of Representatives
• Florida Department of State – Division of Elections
• League of Women Voters of Seminole County
• League of Women Voters of Florida

The voice you’ll hear is that of Gil Bankston, General Manager of the Oviedo MarketPlace commenting on his plans for the mall.
Feature length – 03:24

Central Florida Matters encourages you to post your own reaction to this commentary. Below, you will find useful links related to the commentary, including a transcript, biographical information and related pictures.

Should you wish to be considered for a commentary segment on Central Florida Matters, please click on the “contact” link to send us an email which should include adequate information for us to understand your issue. And please include a daytime telephone number where we may reach you.

Extended Interview & Pictures

Additional Feature Information

• Commentary Transcript
• Biography

Here’s the feature’s premise…with microphone in hand, producer Stephen McKenney Steck walks up to someone he’s never met and asks in a friendly and non-threatening way… “hey stranger, what’s your story?” And que sera, sera – what ever will be, will be.

Chris is about 40 years old, married with 3 kids. It’s the oldest kid – the one Chris says attends a “therapeutic school” which becomes the focus of the story as we learn how Chris discovers that his then 1-year old son has SPD, sensory processing disorder. A combination of school and therapy is working effectively for Chris’ son… but there are a few emotional moments as the story unfolds.

On-line research about SPD reveals that our “senses” are stimulated by smells, movement, touch, taste, sights and sounds. We process those senses so that we learn, socialize and function with ordinary motor skills. Yet, when our brain does not correctly process these stimuli – the result is disorder in our behavior. This disorder can be seen in a child’s fear of playground equipment or the preference for wearing only certain kind of clothes or eating only certain kind of foods, or jumping and crashing into objects.

All of us have some processing difficulties, but those become a disorder when they become disruptive, extreme and unpredictable. Most SPD diagnoses occur in children, and sometimes in adults though usually as a carryover from childhood.

According to Chris, SPD treatment is critical, though Chris says getting a clear program of treatment – let alone an acceptable medical diagnoses – is not an easy or inexpensive journey, particularly as regards the requirements of insurance carriers and educational institutions.

Extended Interview & Pictures

Additional Feature Information

• Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation
• Sensory Processing Disorder Resource Center
• Freedom Ride Inc
• Geneva School
• Heavenly Hoofs
• Heavenly Hoofs – Riding for the Disabled (more insight into horseback riding as a form of physical and spiritual hippo-therapy for youngsters with special needs from the Village Academy of Oviedo.)
• United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida
• City of Winter Springs’ Trotwood Park

As the 2010 election season gets into full swing in Florida there are two women running for governor, women running for the cabinet and in 21 races in the U.S. House of Representatives. Local government has many women candidates. Both the Orange and Seminole county school boards are made up almost exclusively of women.

But the picture isn’t so rosy for Florida’s women from another perspective. Women make up more than 50% of the population, yet since 1987 the percentage of women in the Florida legislature has been stuck at around 22%. And today and in the near future no women will be holding leadership positions. Florida has not had a woman senator since Paula Hawkins who was defeated after just one term.

Linda Chapin, Orange County’s first elected mayor, and her colleagues opened the doors to women by paying their dues with community service. Patricia Bates, the mayor of Altamonte Springs, leaped into the political arena thirteen years by running for Altamonte Springs city commission. Dr. Terri Fine, professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida and Associate Director of the Lou Frey Institute for Politics and Government, has observed women in politics from an academic perspective for 20 years.

Extended Interview & Pictures

	Linda Chapin and Desta Horner Extended interview (25:43)
	Patricia Bates and Desta Horner Extended interview (36:32)
	Terri Fine and Desta Horner Extended interview (41:44)

Additional Feature Information

• Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government
• The Metropolitan Center for Regional Studies
• City of Altamonte Springs
• Center for American Women in Politics CAWP

At age 40, Michael Ertel has served 5-years as Supervisor of Elections for Seminole County, since being appointed by the governor to fill the unexpired term of the previous election supervisor.  Ertel has been subsequently elected and reelected to the office in the ensuing years. His current annual salary is $120,000 set by the state statue based on a population formula. He has voluntarily forgone several legislatively proffered salary increases to remain in line with salary freezes imposed on his own staff which is funded by the county commission.

Ertel grew up in Seminole County Florida. He is a military veteran, a former public relations professional and a lifelong Republican– though he asserts his office is administered in a non-partisan fashion. This is his first elected office. His present term of 4-year expires in 2012. He has not yet announced his reelection intentions.

Producer–reporter Stephen McKenney Steck held the interview in Ertel’s Sanford, Florida office located on the property of the Orlando Sanford International Airport.  The extended interview lasted almost 90 minutes and is posted below, though 27-minutes was excerpted for this Voting Smart feature.

In the feature, Ertel’s answers illuminate a broad collection of issues ranging from what keeps him up at night to what your rights and responsibilities are as a voter. And from the role technology plays in the registration and voting process to how you should evaluate the effectiveness of candidates. You’ll also learn from Ertel how precincts are defined…the many ways you are able to vote…and whether or not he can be influenced or can influence candidates as regards their election campaigns.

In Ertel’s extended comments he adds more insight into the issues he has addressed, and he also offers responses about his personal and political journey to the position he now holds… the history of the supervisor of elections office…his own feelings about the difference between being appointed and then later elected…how he supervises his own election…and the partisan aspects of his office.

In another program, Ertel is featured on our Heard in Central Florida page in our unedited coverage of his explanation about pending state constitutional amendments.

Note that Heard in Central Florida has and will be posting unedited comments from candidates standing for election or reelection in Seminole County to the positions of judges, state legislators, school board members, county commissioners and city council positions in selected cities in Seminole County.  Links to these programs are below. Future Voting Smart segments will feature one-on-one interviews with local candidates in those positions, too.

Bios

Michael Ertel Supervisor of Elections, Seminole County, Florida website | bio

Additional Feature Information

Links to other features produced by CMF Public Media featuring Michael Ertel or addressing issues related to local candidates and elections

• State Constitutional Amendments – Michael Ertel
• Voting Smart – Local Issues
• Voting Smart: The State of Municipal Leadership
• Judicial Review: Meet the Candidates
• Amendment-4/Hometown Democracy Proposed Florida Constitutional Amendment
• Voices on the Street: If I were a candidate…
• Voting Smart: Former Oviedo Mayor Tom Walters

Extended Content & Pictures

	Michael Ertel and Stephen McKenney Steck Extended interview (01:25:02)

Key Participants

	Deidre Macnab President, League of Women Voters of Florida		Mark Simpson Public radio journalist, 90.7 WMFE-FM resume
	Dick Batchelor Locally recognized political analyst and business consultant. Dick Batchelor Management Group, Inc resume		Deana Schott Immediate Past President, League of Women Voters of Seminole County

Pictures

After you launch the slideshow below, click “Next” and “Previous” to rotate through the photos.

	resume

Additional Feature Information

This presentation marks the 6th in a series of collaborations Carroll McKenney Public Media has initiated with the League of Women Voters of Seminole County Florida through a series of on-going events produced by the League addressing a range of important voter issues.

As you listen to each speaker, please note that below is relevant and helpful information regarding each speaker including their resumes and links to their web site. Additionally, there are still pictures of the event included in an on-line slide show.

While at the Heard in Central Florida Web site you may listen to this growing archive of previous Seminole League events featuring…

• A profile in their own words of candidates standing for election as judges in Seminole County
• A debate about an amendment to the state’s constitution known as amendment 4 or Hometown Democracy
• The status of homeless students in Seminole County
• A forum on school funding priorities, and…
• A presentation regarding youth substance abuse.

Key Participants

	Senator Thad Altman District 24 (Republican) website		Representative Sandy Adams District 33 (Republican) website
	Representative Scott Plakon District 37 (Republican) website

Facilitating Participants

	Cynthia Sucher Chamber Board President, and Associate Vice President for Community Relations at University of Central Florida UCF		Paul Sladek Moderator and Chamber Vice President – Government Affairs Attorney, Cloninger & Files website
	Cory Skeates Executive Director, Oviedo Winter Springs Regional Chamber of Commerce website

Pictures

After you launch the slideshow below, click “Next” and “Previous” to rotate through the photos.

Additional Useful Links

• Oviedo Winter Springs Regional Chamber of Commerce

• Tuscawilla Country Club

• Additional Event Pictures(selected photos courtesy Charles Wells Photography)

The voice you’ll hear is that of Longwood, Florida resident Steve Bruton, a formerly homeless person commenting on the homeless issue in Seminole County.
Feature length – 03:53

Central Florida Matters encourages you to post your own reaction to this commentary. Below, you will find useful links related to the commentary, including a transcript, biographical information and related pictures.

Should you wish to be considered for a commentary segment on Central Florida Matters, please click on the “contact” link to send us an email which should include adequate information for us to understand your issue. And please include a daytime telephone number where we may reach you.

Pictures

Additional Feature Information

• Commentary Transcript
• Steve Bruton Bio

With the end of the school year millions of poor children across the United States lose their access to free and reduced lunches at school. To help fill the 9 week gap until school begins in August, the HOPE Foundation of Oviedo, Florida is again providing free bag lunches for eligible children. Christine Wright, the resource coordinator and food pantry manager at HOPE, came up with the idea after seeing children from Jackson Heights Middle School loose their summer lunch program a few years ago.

In 2009, the Kids of HOPE initiative served 300 children with one meal a week during the 9 weeks of summer break. Now, in 2010, it has expanded to 3 days a week and expects to serve 450 children. Each meal costs approximately $2.10. For families in a tough economic climate, providing an extra meal for each child each day can be a strain.

Children or their parents can pick up the lunches at the Sunshine Food Pantry in Oviedo. The bags contain a small easy-opening canned meal (spaghetti, ravioli, etc), fruit, juice and a snack. Also each child who picks up a meal can choose a book for summer reading or may receive a tooth brush or shampoo and even a small piece of candy. These little extras are gathered by HOPE to accompany the lunch.

Donations from churches, individuals and grant aid helps fund the program but the program hasn’t yet reached its funding goal for the summer of 2010. Volunteer families assemble the bags and often decorate them and write a special message to place inside. The children who receive the lunches get great joy from these messages of love and support.

The HOPE Foundation website (link below) provides additional information and a chance to support this program.

Extended Interview & Pictures

Christine Wright and Desta Horner Resource Coordinator Extended interview (08:38)		Darlene Campbell and Desta Horner Extended interview (03:29 )

Additional Feature Information

• The HOPE Foundation of Oviedo