Candidate: Richard A (Rick) Murphy

I am a Florida native, born and raised in south Florida.I am the 12th child of Susie Murphy, which includes 5 brothers and 6 sisters. I have lived in Manatee County part time since 2001, and full time since 2014. I have 3 daughters one who resides in southern California, another in Lakeland and the youngest in Parrish, who is the mother of my grandchildren who has lived in Parrish since 2001. She has been a hair stylist in Bradenton/Parrish since moving to Manatee county and just opened her own hair salon called the Style House in Parrish.  My granddaughter is a student at Parrish Community High School and my grandson graduated from Lakewood Ranch high school last year. I am a member of the Parrish Community High School Boosters. They both have been students in the Manatee county school district since kindergarten.

I worked in business management after high school and continued my education at Palm Beach State College pursuing a business degree. I decided to get involved with my community volunteering in youth sports and many community service projects.  I have worked with children in livestock organizations that include 4H, county fairs and Future Farmers of America as an alumnus. I have served in community civic groups such as Jaycees, United Way, Elks, Kiwanis and various chambers of commerce. In Manatee County I have volunteered with Take Stock in Children and scholarship mentoring. I have attended Bayside Church with my family and helped with feeding the homeless during the holidays. I was raised in the Assembly of God church and like to attend various denominations worship services and fellowship. I also worked at the Home Depot and co-taught ladies do it yourself classes as one of the instructors at the Home Depot on University Blvd. I have taught in Manatee county at King Middle, Harlee Middle as a classroom teacher and other schools in the district as a subsitute teacher and worked as paraprofessional at  Tillman elementary. I served four years as Chairman for Take Stock in Children in Hendry County. I worked with the late Barbara Bush Foundation “Celebration of Reading Program” by supporting literacy in schools and for adults during my tenure as Superintendent from 2008-2012. I served on the South West Florida Workforce Board of Directors providing job training for adults. I was instrumental in providing Destination Graduation coaches for students who were struggling in school to graduate (2008-2012). I also served on the Heartland Educational Consortium ( www.heartland.org)  as a director (2008-2012) with superintendents from Desoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee counties. The consortium provided six county school districts with continuous professional development training, safe schools and other education program opportunities through grant application funding. The consortium teamed up with the Florida Learns grant that provided high school students internships with the University of Florida, Florida State, and Florida Gulf Coast University working with Mote Marine and others in summer programs.  It was also the central location for our Florida Diagnostic & Learning (FDLRS) that provided diagnostic, instructional and technology support services for district exceptional student education (ESE) programs and families of students with disabilities funded through federal and state tax dollars. FDLRS provided training for teachers, parents and assistive technology for students to adapt to their disability for learning. I also served as a board member for the Alliance of Educational Leaders (www.allianceofeducationalleaders.org)  in south west Florida which consisted of superintendents from Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Lee and Hendry counties and the Presidents of Florida Gulf Coast University, Northwestern State, Hodges colleges and Nova universities. I was elected and served on the Hendry County School Board from 1994-2008 . While serving on the school board I began my teaching career at Lake Placid Middle School in Highlands county. In 2008 I was elected to serve as the Superintendent of Hendry County School District. In 2013 I was recruited to work as an assistant principal at South Tech Academy High School in Boynton Beach in the Palm Beach County School District. There as an administrator I worked with classroom teachers and 13 career academies. During my time at South Tech Academy I helped plan and open South Tech Prepartory Academy Middle School in Boynton Beach. I came to Manatee county in 2014 where I taught at King Middle school and Harlee Middle as classroom teacher. I substituted in high schools and elementaries within the district to learn about the overall district school system. I worked in most elementaries as a subsitute teacher to see how each school operated and learn from their successes . I worked as a paraprofessional at Tillman elementary in Palmetto where I subsituted for K-5 teachers and assisted in the classroom with small group instruction and pull outs. 

Why am I running for school board member District 3?

I am running because I have always been a servant leader and believe my experience will provide organizational leadership skills to the district while supporting student achievement, the administration, teachers, schools and all employees in their work as a team. I believe my experience, knowledge and interpersonal skills will help unify the board in their leadership roles and responsibilities as elected public servants to work together for the common good of all people and support all employees, students, parents and community stakeholders. I have worked in business management, as a substitute teacher, paraprofessional, classroom teacher, school and district administrator, school board member and superintendent. I have worked in public education and public converted charter schools. I understand the job of the entire organization and what is needed to support their work. My experience in business, as a teacher, assistant principal, former school board member and superintendent allow me to understand the roles, responsibilities and authority of a school board member and superintendent. I also have worked in school bus transportation, maintenance and overseen the construction of new schools working with contractors, architects, and construction management companies. I will work diligently to build a proactive, positive, communicative, cooperative school board and superintendent partnership as a cohesive team with high-impact governance empowering the strategies that support the entire organization for continued success and financial prudence with transparency. I will work diligently to provide safe schools for the students and all employees. My goal in the 2020-2021 school year will be to provide clean and safe schools for the students and its employees. The COVID19 pandemic guidelines that are recommended by the CDC and the Manatee County Health Department will be followed. Parents and students will have choices available to meet their needs in the educational process. My vision is expand career certification academies in middle and high schools along with the Manatee Technical College including adult school programs. I welcome everyones input and suggestions. Please connect with me on Richard Murphy for Manatee School Board on Facebook and Murphy for Manatee School Board on Instagram. I can be reached by e-mail and on my cell phone. I would appreciate your vote and support in the August Primary Election on August 18th and during early voting beginning August 10th  and vote by mail. visit www.rickmurphy4manateeschoolboard.com , instagram murphyformanateeschoolboard, and facebook at Richard Murphy for Manatee School Board ..