As Election Day approaches, the Orange County School Board Chair election offers voters a choice between incumbent Teresa Jacobs, who will likely continue the status quo, and Carl Brewer, who is offering a different vision for OCPS. He’s also not scared to talk about what he says are the realities of Orange County schools and local education policy, and he wants to put teachers and parents more in control.
Calling himself a “bureaucracy-busting man of the people,” Brewer promises to “fight for the rights of students, teacher’s and parents alike.” He is also campaigning to shake things up in the Orange County school system. While he admits Jacobs has nearly 100% name recognition in Orange County from her previous political positions, Brewer is campaigning as the new guy with new ideas.
“When I got in the race, I started talking to students, parents and teachers to find out what they want and need,” Brewer said. “The biggest thing I hear is there are too many barriers.”
His main priorities include empowering teachers with better pay and a greater ability to discipline, empowering parents with more involvement in policy and greater transparency, increasing OCPS revenues and revisiting the budget process, as well as promoting personal choice and freedom through policy. His reasons for running for School Board Chair are also personal.
“I saw the happiness and enjoyment drain from my children’s eyes,” Brewer said. Talking about his son’s speech development, he added “when you’re learning how to speak at such a young age, you need to look at people’s mouths. The students weren’t getting what they needed at such an important time.”
He talks about how everything changed as the pandemic hit. He says all of a sudden, his children hated school when face masks were implemented as a measure of protection against COVID-19. Brewer partnered with other local parents and got involved in OCPS politics at that time to challenge the school board on policies he worried took away personal freedoms and harmed student development. But he said parents like him felt like they had no voice.
“I felt like running for School Board Chair was the only option,” Brewer said. “Have you ever looked at someone and you just knew they didn’t care at all about what you were saying or how you were feeling? That’s how each of us felt when we addressed the Orange County School Board.”
Brewer says many times, the school board members do not even respond to concerns from parents or teachers, and that the face mask issue was just one of many where parents felt ignored. “You should at least get a response – that’s the job of an elected official,” he said. “Even if you do not agree, it’s your duty to serve the entire public.”
Brewer’s concerns about student development and the impact from the changes made to education during the pandemic are shared by many, including his opponent. Jacobs admits that addressing “COVID slide” is one of her top issues if re-elected. While OCPS did have more A schools than last year, there are three F schools and many are struggling.
Brewer said there are many reasons for the issues schools are currently facing. He said after speaking with teachers, one of the barriers they face is having their hands tied when it comes to discipline. He thinks OCPS is so worried about their public image that teachers can’t document the reality that is happening in the local schools. Some teachers told him that salary would not be as big of an issue if they were more empowered.
“I want to take the handcuffs off the schools so they can be responsible for how incidents are handled in terms of discipline,” Brewer said. “They don’t have control over their own schools and they can’t discipline to ensure all the other students can learn. We need to change how schools are handling discipline by giving it back to the people who are on the frontlines. We need to let teachers teach.”
Teacher pay is also still an issue that is impacting retention and recruitment. “Teachers are not getting the proper salary they deserve,” Brewer said. This issue is also another top priority for Jacobs in her re-election as well.
When talking with OCPS students, Brewer said he focused on “inner city schools and schools that are not typically shown off by OCPS.”
“Students told me they feel forgotten,” he said. “It’s a snowball effect from there, but the impact on students is devastating. That’s the biggest sign of failure a school system can have. It breaks my heart, it really does.”
When it comes to parents, Brewer said he wants them more involved and wants there to be a greater focus on freedom and choice.
“I don’t want to take away from an individual’s freedoms,” Brewer said. “Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, it should be the individual’s choice. I’m big on personal choice. Our own choice is the only freedom we really have. We’re not setting a good example for our children when we take that away. They need to see how choices impact life.”
As a financial advisor, Brewer believes one of his biggest strengths is analyzing budgets and trying to utilize funds appropriately. He said that will allow him to maximize benefits to teachers and students. He also wants to bring in additional revenue to supplement.
“Why isn’t OCPS doing more to bring in revenue for our schools, to give teachers more, to provide more benefits to students?” Brewer asked. “These are all strong skill sets of mine.”
In talking about various ways to increase partnerships and financial resources for OCPS, Brewer referenced a recent OCPS scandal that erupted after a “verbal agreement” with Universal Orlando was uncovered. “It blows my mind that we’re not doing more,” he said. “Letting people take advantage of you is no way to run a business, and it’s no way to run our schools. It’s not benefiting the school system, the teachers, the parents or the school system.”
He wants to leverage community partners to do more for local students. “It is their future workforce, so the investment makes sense,” he said. “Looking at OCPS as a business, I want to make sure there are adequate revenues and budgeting for the right priorities, starting with our teachers and students.”
Connecting back to his concerns about how the school board is currently run, Brewer wants to bring all stakeholders together moving forward to have a more open dialogue. He said he wants to take emotion out of the equation and focus on data, facts and what parents, students and teachers are concerned with. “Decision-making gets a lot easier when you use the actual information and data,” he said. “Any successful executive will tell you they go off the data and if the data changes, they will pivot.”
“The face mask issue is a perfect example of Jacobs going off of the ‘follow the herd’ mentality, without taking any of the other information into account,” Brewer said. But at the time, Jacobs made it clear she understood both sides of the argument and explained she did use research to guide her. “I respect your strong opinions on both sides of this,” Jacobs said at the time. “I can find data to support both arguments.”
Brewer also said another contrast is that he believes there should be an “opt-in” process for controversial issues, like the face mask policy, instead of a parental “opt-out.” Brewer believes this could be done easily using technology, and he believes it would be quicker and easier for parents.
On bullying, Brewer believes students should be able to use self-defense without punishment. “Telling someone they can’t defend themselves is taking away their human rights and self-worth,” he said. “It’s not fair.” He remembered getting in a fight in 7th grade after defending his friend, and the school was going to punish all of the students before his mother defended him. As he grew up, he said that example meant more to him, and that “it is important for everyone to know it is ok to defend yourself and stand up for yourself.”
Brewer said he ultimately wants to serve as Orange County School Board Chair so that he can work “to ensure each child is given the world-class education they need and deserve.”
