District 4 St. Johns County School Board Member Kelly Barrera met with local parents at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach’s Beach Club Monday, Aug. 20 to discuss some of the key challenges the school district is facing and how she intends to address them if re-elected to another term.
Listing St. Johns County’s continued growth as a major issue for the district, Barrera said she is currently pushing for a new high school to be built.
“One of my huge priorities is to have a new high school, because I feel like we’ve already built K-8s, we built Picolata Crossing, we’re expanding Mill Creek Academy right now, but we haven’t done high school,” she said. “And I don’t think that’s the only school that needs to be built. There will probably be another school built beyond that, but my first priority is the high school.”
In response to her opponents’ assertions that St. Johns County’s high schools were dropping in their national rankings, Barrera contended that such claims were inaccurate.
“You have to look at the information you’re being given, and you have to look at how it’s being put together,” she said, referencing the list of the “Best High Schools in Florida” released by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Ponte Vedra High as No. 24 in the state — one slot down from the school’s previous ranking as No. 23.
Noting that the rankings also took factors like students’ ethnic and economic backgrounds into account, Barrera held that academically, the district’s high schools were actually improving.
“The state assesses our different schools, and both Nease and Ponte Vedra have moved forward,” she said. “The number of kids taking AP at both schools has gone up and their passage rates have gone up.
“And by the way, we’re growing like crazy,” she added. “There are kids being assessed that are literally walking in the door. What has happened on the backs of our teachers and our students and our parents is really nothing short of phenomenal. We aren’t dropping, we’re doing well in spite of (our growth).”
Addressing another concern some voters have raised regarding an apparent lack of diversity on the school board, Barrera said there was no truth to the idea that the board agrees on everything and “rubber-stamps” the superintendent’s decisions.
“We absolutely disagree,” she said. “We absolutely do, but at the end of the day, we come to some consensus or it won’t go forward. At the end of the day, we’ll put our personal differences aside for the best interest of the students of the district, because everybody that you have on that board, that’s what their concern is. Their agenda is the students in the district, hands down.”
Also identifying school safety as a primary concern for the district in the wake of the Parkland shooting, Barrera contended that the county has been proactive on that front.
“We already had 16 psychologists on staff for our schools, we were able to add two more,” she said. “We already had six mental health counselors and we were able to double that to 12. We had four social workers, we were able to add three, and we had 11 behavioral therapists. So, we were already moving towards mental health and beefing it up, and we love the fact that we were able to add those positions.”
Endorsed in her bid for re-election by several past educators and district staff members — including former Superintendent Dr. Joseph Joyner and past School Board Members Bill Fehling and Dr. Pam Mullarkey Robbins — Barrera also recently received an endorsement from the St. Johns Education Association, the local teachers’ union.
“Our endorsement is based on our belief that Kelly Barrera is best positioned to support teachers and lead the charge in new ideas for our growing, changing district,” St. Johns Education Association President Michelle Dillon said in a statement released Aug. 12. “We have watched her in action as she has served on the board for the last four years. She has showcased her abilities to listen, question and act. We look forward to working with her in the future.”
Nocatee resident and parent Robbin Bray, who attended Monday’s meet-and-greet, said she agreed that Barrera was the best candidate for the job. Recounting an occasion when she had encountered Barrera at a meeting in Jacksonville to help girls impacted by the juvenile justice system, Bray said she was moved by Barrera’s dedication to supporting students of all means and backgrounds.
“There were no cameras there, she was not seeking votes, she was just working towards the best interest of children that need her,” Bray said. “Kelly shows up, rolls up her sleeves, does not expect kudos and gets to work. That is why I am convinced she is the best person for this position.”
