Three seats are open in August’s Alachua County School Board election. Five candidates are on the ballot, including two incumbents.
The election follows the board’s rezoning plans, in which members voted 3-2 to close three schools — Alachua, Foster and Williams elementary schools — across the next two years.
The decision sparked frustration with many community members. Some have called for current board members to be replaced.
“This just deepens distrust that the community has in every single board member and the superintendent,” said Melvina Wilson, a Williams Elementary School parent, at a board meeting March 3. “Do not be dismayed when the vote comes in August.”
Despite this, elected officials continue to develop their campaign goals, which range from teacher salary increases to improving the district’s budget.
The election will take place Aug. 18 across more than 60 voting locations spread throughout the county. Voters can check their polling location at the Supervisor of Elections website.
District 1
Janine Plavac, who currently holds the District 5 seat after being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2025, is running uncontested for District 1, which encompasses Newberry.
Board member Tina Certain, who currently holds the District 1 seat, is vacating her position to run for a spot on the Alachua County Commission.
Plavac, a 73-year-old teacher at Saint Francis Catholic Academy, said the application process strengthened her commitment to her role on the board.
“To apply for that, I had to go through a pretty rigorous process,” she said. “When I did that, I was committed to making sure that all parties and all stakeholders in this community have an equal serve and a voice in what goes on.”
Plavac describes her stance as conservative but open-minded. School board positions are nonpartisan, meaning candidates run without party affiliations listed on the ballot.
One of Plavac’s main goals is finding a permanent superintendent.
In November 2024, following the firing of previous superintendent Shane Andrew, Kamela Patton was named interim superintendent. A year later, the board extended Patton’s contract until 2027 and began searching for a permanent superintendent.
It is unclear if the board has made any advancements in the search.
Plavac also hopes to enhance student performance and literacy rates by promoting old-school teaching methods, like paper-based assessments and enforcing no-phone policies put in place by the governor in 2025.
According to standardized language arts test results for the 2024-25 school year, 55% of students in Alachua County passed with a three or higher. That’s just below the state’s 57% achievement rate.
In addition to enhancing literacy rates, Plavac also hopes to adjust disciplinary measures and student behavior to retain teachers.
“My goal is to be a support mechanism for them [teachers] but also let them be in charge of their classroom,” she said. “Let them decide what programs work for them and their teaching environment. They know better than any administrator.”
Plavac’s stance on administrative support comes from her experience working as a teacher in the district.
She taught at Gainesville High School for 17 years before moving to Saint Francis Catholic Academy, a private school in Gainesville.
“I was in public school education, and now I'm in private school education,” Plavac said. “So I see both sides of what's going on.”
District 3
Sarah Rockwell, a 44-year-old who studied and taught special education throughout Florida, is currently running for reelection for her District 3 seat. Gregory Pelham is running to replace her. District 3 includes the city of Alachua, as well as some of northwest Gainesville.
If elected for a second term, Rockwell said she hopes to continue working toward improving academic achievement, strategic operations and fiscal responsibility.
Academic achievement factors into the Florida Department of Education’s grading of schools throughout the state. Schools are assigned a grade between A and F based on graduation and acceleration rates, and support offered to students in need.
When Rockwell started on the school board in 2022, the district had seven D and F schools. In 2025, the amount decreased to four D schools and no F schools. Her goal is to continue to work toward having zero schools rated D or F.
She also hopes to improve the district’s rating from a B to an A.
Her other goals include improving transportation and better managing the district’s budget.
The district’s budget fell from $612 million in 2024-25 to $604 million during the 2025-26 school year, according to previous Alligator reporting. A decrease in federal and state funding, as well as declining enrollment, drove the budget changes.
“We need people on the board who are willing to ask … ‘Where is the money for this coming from?’” she said. “I understand the desire to implement all the good ideas in the world, but we have to be able to pay for those. … That is a huge reason that I'm running again.”
Rockwell’s first term didn’t come without its challenges.
In August 2025, Rockwell faced backlash from parents and state officials for her comments on the death of Hulk Hogan, a professional wrestler known for expressing conservative views.
In September 2025, board member Tina Certain faced similar pushback on her comments surrounding the death of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist.
“What occurred with myself, with Mrs. Certain and with some board members in other districts is intimidation, fear tactics, bullying — and it's entirely performative,” Rockwell said. “My focus is, has always been and will continue to be doing my job to the best of my ability, and I will not let anything distract me from that.”
Rockwell and other board members have also faced criticism following the district’s recent rezoning decisions.
Despite community frustrations, she said she will continue to do what she feels is best for the district.
“I have always made decisions with the best interests of our students and our staff and our district as a whole in mind — not my political career, my popularity or my reelection,” Rockwell said. “I will continue to do that. … This rezoning is very unpopular, but it is incredibly necessary.”
Rockwell will face Gregory Pelham at the polls this year. Pelham, a 69-year-old Teen Court case manager, currently works for the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
His experience working in the school system for roughly 40 years, he said, makes him more aware of community opinions. Teen Court, a national program used in Alachua County, offers nonviolent first-time teen offenders a second chance.
“That, for me, greatly opens up lines of communications at many different levels,” Pelham said. “Whether it be with the parents, whether it be with the students or whether it be with their staff and administrators at the schools, or even … in the faith-based community.”
Decisions and community concerns should be met with unity and compassion, he added. If elected, he said he hopes to bring these qualities to the board.
“There needs to be a little bit more unity on the board,” Pelham said, “with a clear-set vision for our children and our communities and our schools.”
In February, the board tried to schedule a “Way of Work” training meant to improve communication issues among board members. The plans, however, fell through after two members refused to attend the training.
In addition to improving unity, Pelham said he hopes to work on improving teacher salaries.
Teachers deserve support given their working environment, he said.
For the 2024-25 school year, the median teacher salary in Alachua County was a little under $50,400, which is nearly $4,000 less than the state’s average median salary, according to the Florida Department of Education.
In 2024, Florida ranked the second-lowest state in the country for teacher pay. Mississippi was the only state in the country with a lower average teacher salary in 2024, according to the World Population Review.
“That’s big for me, paying teachers what they’re worth,” Pelham said. “I know what they’re dealing with in the schools.”
Overall, he said the importance of the election stems from building a strong future. The school board is responsible for the children who shape our future, he added.
The outcome of the election has the power to create change throughout the county, Pelham said.
“Voting for me and helping me to become the next board member will effect change,” he said. “It will effect unity, and it will bring a fresh look [at] what our students and what our teachers … and what our parents are experiencing.”
District 5
Two candidates — Annie Muscato and Jancie Vinson — are running for District 5, which is located in the southwest portion of the county.
The District 5 seat was left open by Plavac, who is running for District 1. Plavac originally served District 5 after being appointed by DeSantis in April 2025. She is running for District 1 because it aligns with her address.
Muscato, a 35-year-old director of development for the UF Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment, is a fourth-generation Floridian who said her love for education comes from her grandma, who was an elementary school teacher.
“I care deeply about the state of Florida,” she said. “I want it to be the best it can be. I know that a strong public education system is the foundation for a strong community — for a strong state.”
Muscato said she believes her postsecondary education will prepare her for a potential position on the school board.
Muscato received her master’s degree and doctorate in agricultural education and communication from UF. Throughout her studies, she said, she specialized in leadership.
“There is a need for a level of common-sense leadership,” Muscato said. “That's balancing the needs of the community with whatever the current lived reality is.”
Muscato has two elementary-aged children in Alachua County Public Schools and believes her personal investment in the district will help her in her school board endeavors.
Her candidacy, as she describes it, is “rooted in a genuine want to make things better.”
Muscato is running against Jancie Vinson, a 67-year-old retired correctional probation specialist at the Florida Department of Corrections.
Vinson hopes to improve student behavior, increase staff employment and benefits, reduce the district’s debt and add more magnet programs to schools in East Gainesville, which is home to several historically Black neighborhoods.
“I will fight as a candidate to undo the wrongness, unfairness, disparity,” Vinson said. “This is not the west versus the east.”
During the rezoning process, the board proposed the closure of three East Gainesville schools: Duval Early Learning Academy and Williams and Rawlings elementary schools. A fourth school proposed for closure, Foster Elementary School, is located on Northwest Sixth Street, which is often considered greater East Gainesville.
The school board voted on March 12 to close Williams and Foster elementary schools, sparking debate over disproportionate closures on the east side of the city.
Vinson’s concerns reflect her participation in organizations like local branches of the NAACP and the American Association of University Women, which promote equality in Gainesville.
It’s important for board members to be involved in their community, she said.
“You should be visible … and see what's really going on out there,” Vinson said.
This is Vinson’s third time running for a school board position. She previously ran in 2010 and 2014 but lost both times.
Contact Grace Larson at glarson@alligator.org. Follow her on X @graceellarson.
Grace Larson is a first-year journalism student, currently serving as K-12 education reporter. She has previously served as city/county commission reporter for The Alligator's metro desk. In her free time, she enjoys staying active and hanging out with her family.
