By Adam Musgrave
As the race for District 4 school board continues to accelerate, army veteran and certified teacher Dee Prether has entered the chase.
Prether, whose platform centers on curriculum flexibility, says she is running to ensure that every student gets the most benefits possible from the education system.
“I believe we could do a lot better job of challenging all our students to the best of their ability,” she said.
While in the military, Prether worked in several educational roles, including that of a Training NCO, where she taught career development, personal and professional skills as well as leadership. She also currently holds a professional certification in elementary education from the state of Florida and has experience managing two businesses, which include a marina and veterinary clinic at Kadena in Okinawa.
Prether’s vision for the education system in Hillsborough County is for it to become a hallmark for the rest of the nation. She said there is no reason it should not be able to compete with any county in any state. In order to reach that point, she said county and state administrators simply need to trust educators.
“How we get to the top is we let teachers do their job,” she said.
Prether has lobbied on behalf of students in the past, challenging standards of curriculum and even helping to form and circulate a petition to raise awareness for and help end overcrowding at Bloomingdale High School.
Overall, Prether said that the focus of everyone elected to the school board should be on the well-being and educational success of the students. The best way to accomplish that, she argued, was to ensure flexibility in the creation of curriculum. She went so far as to say that she would explore ways for the board to become more proactive in impacting the Florida Legislature.
In the end, Prether said her philosophy is a simple one. “If you let teachers focus on the students,” she said, “the test scores will take care of themselves.”
For more information about Dee Prether, visit www.tomorrowssuccesses.com or email her at DeePretherForSchoolBoard@hotmail.com.
