Candidate: Bridget Mendel

Bridget Mendel is a parent of three boys who have spent the last ten years in the Manatee County Schools. Her oldest son Kevin is a graduate of Lakewood Ranch High School, a Junior at USF Tampa and is working toward a degree in Computer Engineering. Bridget also has twin boys, Aidan and Brendan, in their senior year at LRHS. She has been married for 27 years to her husband Mark Mendel. After raising their young boys in the city of Chicago her family relocated to East County, purchasing a home in Greyhawk Landing in 2009.

She has an undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire in Economics and an M.S.Ed. in Elementary Education from the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY. She comes from multiple generations of teachers, starting with her mother, her inspiration for going into teaching with an emphasis on reading remediation and early childhood education.

Bridget is a long-time educator and Florida certified, having taught in NY, the city of Chicago, its suburbs and right here in Manatee County. Orton Gillingham and Reading Recovery trained, she has experience working in urban, suburban, homeschool and virtual settings  

If elected to the School Board of Manatee, Bridget plans to make it clear that our children and teachers are more than a score. The high stakes attached to the state assessments must end as well as our reliance on educational technology in place of highly trained, highly qualified educators, especially in remediation classes. She wants to restore valuable instructional time, invest in evidence-based materials and high-quality professional development for our teachers.

It was during Superintendent Saundes' Education Practices Committee settlement hearing for the graduation inflation scandal on October 8, 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale that Bridget decided to run for the Manatee County School Board District 1. Having attended many board meetings over the last 10 years advocating for students’ and parents’ rights and fiscal responsibility, she now wants to lead the charge for systemic change.

Our children and teachers deserve a voice. It would be Bridget’s honor to be that voice in Manatee County to restore the trust, transparency and truth that the taxpayers have the right to expect from our School Board.