Candidate: Linda Lou Osborne

I  am running for the school board for two areas that desperately need to be addressed.

Fiscal Responsibility- The swelling ranks of administrators and educational professionals who do everything but teach in the classroom.  The district must reconfigure its operations by cutting extremely high administration costs and working more efficiently.  It will be my position as a board member to examine how cuts can occur without compromising children’s education.  State funding is disappearing and the district can no longer operate under the pretense of “business as usual”.  We must invest in success, keep our standards high and learn to live within our means.  Currently, this administration has 99.5 employees listed as district level with another 55 employees in the Exceptional Student Education Department.  These positions are employees who are not in the Classroom.

Parental Involvement:  Recently a district administrator made a statement that they were separating student achievement from community services.  In my thinking, the community equals parents.  Students with parents who are involved in their school tend to have fewer behavorial problems and better performance and are more likely to complete high school than students whose parents are not involved in their school. Parental involvement is  not the one time meet and greet your teacher.  It involves communication with your child’s school, encouraging learning at home, but most importantly encouragement from teachers and administrators to be  active members of the school family. Another aspect of school/parent Involvement is building strong community partnerships to ensure our entire community is pushing in one direction for our students. Students and parents thrive when the entire community stands behind them.  The old adage, “it takes a village to raise a child” is apparent.  Everybody should take stock in your child’s education

Over 40 years of experience in education at the State level, Alachua and Putnam Counties. 
Proven leadership with the Putnam County School District from 1992 to 2016 providing high quality education for all students. 
University of Tennessee, Bachelor of Science in Education
 Nova Southeast, Completed course work for Masters of Education

                                                    Community Service

• Zoning Board of Adjustment, Chairperson
• First Coast Community Credit Union, Board Member
• Ashley Lake Plantation Home Owners’ Association, Secretary (former)