August 22, 2022
Districts 3 Candidates
Jen Mitchell is the current School Board Chair and is running for reelection against candidates Jana Greer and Kelly Lichter. Mitchell has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and has previously worked as a teacher within Collier. Mitchell currently works as a local realtor and she’s worked alongside and volunteered with Collier County extensively. Mitchell’s involvement with CCPS allowed her to be a part of the Champions for Learning Connect now Project and later the CCPS Strategic Plan.
Mitchell describes her qualifications for the position and discusses how her familiarity with both business and the school system would make her a better candidate. Mitchell shares that the quality of our schools is often “the first thing clients new to the area ask about, as it directly affects property values.” Property values are dictated by the School Board and a well-run school system means greater prices and property values. Those involved in the housing market or real estate are affected by the property values and prices making their vote crucial.
Jana Greer is a high school graduate and a Doula with a background in massage therapy. She has worked with the Collier County ESE students advisory board and she is a very active member in church. In her campaign Greer expresses the importance of conservative values and she shares that she is “a bold defender of freedom, opportunity, and American Exceptionalism” [sic]. Her goals as a member of the board include re-introducing “American values back in America’s classrooms.”
As a parent of students in Collier County, Greer is very involved in her children’s education and feels that other parents should be involved in their child’s education too. She feels that it is important to “keep the government out of classrooms, and give the power back to parents.” Greer plans to advance parent involvement in classrooms and provide avenues for parents to oversee their child’s education.
Greer asserts that CCPS curriculum needs to be realigned because “children are being taught Critical Race Theory and that gender is a made-up concept, yet the Bible is considered inappropriate.” The curriculum Greer envisions teaches students the Constitution and the principles of the Founding Fathers. Greer also stresses that the curriculum students are currently being taught teaches them “a revisionist history of America that’s twisted to fit a dangerous left-wing worldview.”
Kelly Lichter has a Bachelor’s degree in history from Baldwin Wallace College and a Masters degree in Social Media Education from Nova Southeastern University. Lichter is Mason Classical Academy’s current board president. She has previously taught U.S. History, Economics, and Government at the high school level, and has previously worked with special needs children. Lichter served on the Collier County School Board from 2014 to 2018 and she is running to “get back in the race and make some major changes.”
Lichter provides a detailed agenda for her plans if elected to the board in her campaign. She is taking the initiative to maintain fiscal responsibility and make wise financial decisions with the board’s ‘bloated’ budget of $ 1.3 billion dollars. Lichter proposes that the school board should “develop a five-year budget plan that includes a 5% shift each year from administrative expenses to teacher salaries and student-related expenses.” This plan would refocus the board’s expenses and limit the amount of money being used for goals apart from academic achievements in schools.
Lichter greatly values educators and students and she deems it necessary that the District works to “eliminate the unnecessary burdens and stressors placed on our educators”. Greer strives to rid teachers of unnecessary responsibilities and eliminate all causes of “teacher-burnout, low moral and high-turnover”. Attracting and retaining teachers is a current concern to the school board and Lichter aims to minimize this.
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