Langford Fleming challenged by Palencia for Lee County School Board District 6 seat

Voters in Fort Myers Beach and countywide, regardless of party affiliation or the town and district they live in, will have an opportunity to weigh in on Aug. 18 in the open School District of Lee County School Board

District 6, which encompasses all districts in Lee County, will pit incumbent Jada Langford Fleming against challenger India Palencia.

The race features two educators seeking the $54,000 position on the school board. Langford Fleming is a former public school teacher who now works as an athletic trainer, while Palencia works as a substitute teacher for the School District of Lee County substitute teacher. That background gives both candidates a unique perspective on the school district operations.

Langford Fleming is seeking her second term on the school board, in a year in which the district is facing some of the toughest financial strains it has ever gone through. Palencia is challenging the school board’s management of the district’s finances, whose superintendent disclosed earlier this year were in the red by more than $90 million.

The candidates

School District of Lee County School Board District 6 trustee Jada Langford Fleming is running for re-election Tuesday, Aug. 18. Photo provided

Jada Langford Fleming

Langford Fleming is a lifetime resident of Lee County. A 20-year elementary school teacher, she left the profession after teaching in the classroom, as well as teaching physical education.

“I just didn’t approve of the direction of the school district,” Langford Fleming said of her decision to leave teaching. “We had topics of CRT (critical race theory) inside the curriculum. My moral compass didn’t align with that,” she said.

She worked for a pharmaceutical company until she ran for school board in 2022. She has a fitness company and gives advice for youth athletes. She also coaches youth athletes at To the Top in Fort Myers.

She has also been a middle school and high school volleyball coach.

“I love teaching. I just wasn’t going to sit there and do something I didn’t believe in when it came into the direction of our curriculum,” Langford Fleming said. Langford Fleming said her issues with critical race theory extended to history subjects.

Langford Fleming said she also objected to “posters in the schools allowing boys to participate in girl sports and use the restrooms and books that were incredibly inappropriate for children. I decided to make sure that instead of being someone who complained, I decided to be part of the solution.”

With the school district having moved more than $40 million earlier this year out of its capital fund to plug an operational deficit, and with the layoffs and non-renewals of hundreds of teachers and staff, Fleming said this situation in the school district is not worse than when she was elected as a board member four years ago.

“We were in quite a chaotic mess on the board. Lots of board members putting their agendas first and not the students,” Langford Fleming said. “I would say that in the last four years, we have made incredible progress starting with school safety all the way to student achievement and making sure we are increasing teacher pay as much as we possibly can, and trimming dollars from the massive budget at the district level.”

Lanford Fleming said she doesn’t believe the district is facing the same challenges as four years ago when she was first elected.

“I wouldn’t say that we are facing the challenges we were when I first got on the board,” she said. “I am running to continue the work we have done to continue the progress we have made.”

Langford Fleming blames the school district’s fiscal situation on the loss of students to other schools.

According to figures provided by the superintendent’s office, the number of students enrolled in the school district dropped by 1,946 students between surveys in October and February.

Langford Fleming says she supports the state’s school choice program, which has given state vouchers to families to go to private schools, charter schools and for homeschooling.

Langford Fleming cites millions of dollars of cuts into administrative offices as progress in lowering spending. “We were living in a top-heavy environment,” Langford Fleming said.

“It’s important that we make sure we are protecting our taxpayer dollars,” she said. “We have more to go. I am not settled with where we are at right now. We are making gains.”

Langford Fleming blamed spending on the previous board. “This is something that this board adopted from the previous board that was just spending our money like it was on a credit card they never had to pay off,” Langford Fleming said.

“The outlook isn’t going to get any worse,” Langford Fleming said about the operational deficit the district faces. Langford Fleming lauded raises given to teachers during her tenure and expects another raise to be approved for teachers. Langford Fleming said she didn’t know how many teachers have been laid off this year, though she said she believes teachers and support personnel are finding jobs in other school districts.

According to the superintendent’s office, there were 275 non-renewals of teachers for budgetary reasons this year, and 457 total non-renewals of all staff for budgetary reasons this year.

Langford Fleming said the school district was 500 teachers short when she got on the board, and last January there were zero vacancies. A few months later, Supt. Denis Carlin told the district there was an operational deficit of more than $90 million. Langford Fleming said “I don’t know if surprise is the right word by maybe disappointment. We get updates often on financials.”

Langford Fleming said “hard decisions had to be made. I believe in our teachers.”

Langford Fleming blamed the loss of students with requiring the laying off of teachers.

On the borrowing of approximately $160 million for the construction of Alva High School, which was opposed by many members of the community, Langford Fleming said the school was needed. “We are gaining students in the east zone,” Langford Fleming said. She said some students had been going to class in portable classrooms. “Every piece of information that has been given to me has definitely provided information that the east county is growing,” Langford Fleming said, referring to students from Lehigh Acres. “It’s an affordable place to live.”

On the subject of the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, which has remained closed since flooding from Hurricane Milton, Langford Fleming said she was limited in what she could comment due to ongoing negotiations between the town and school district. Langford Fleming had voted to approve a report last year to the state that would have set in motion the razing of the public school campus before the school district and town reached a tentative agreement for the school to be given to the town for a charter school.

Langford Fleming said the last figures she has received are that only 17 students are enrolled for Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, whose students take classes at Heights Elementary. “I can’t really talk much about the rest,” she said. “We are doing a great job in doing what the school community wants and what the community needs,” Langford Fleming said. “It’s incredibly unfortunate that two hurricanes hit that area (in 2024).”

Langford Fleming said her biggest priority on the school board would be to see a “100% graduation rate and an A rating” for the district’s schools.

India Palencia, a substitute teacher from Estero, is running for the District 6 seat on the School District of Lee County School Board. Photo provided.

seat.

India Palencia

Palencia is a substitute teacher for the School District of Lee County and she is a critic of the school board for what she sees as a lack of oversight over the district’s spending. Palencia managed AT&T store locations for a decade on the east coast of Florida, before moving to Lee County.

Palencia cites the approval of the Alva school project, as well as cost overruns on construction projects the school district has undertaken. She also objects to the need for the school district paying lobbyists to lobby the state legislature.

She believes contract overruns and changes have cost the district tens of millions of dollars, citing the cost estimates for the Riverdale High School project rising from a $44 million estimate from when first presented in 2020, to a $108 million estimated project when the scope was expanded.

“They are consistently going over on these contracts. Why are there no checks and balances?”

Palencia believes the Alva High School construction, which had an estimated cost tag of approximately $160 when the school board approved a loan for, was one of the worst decisions the school district has made. She said the estimates for the project have already gone up.

Palencia said the infrastructure costs will be expensive due to the lack of infrastructure there. She is concerned the district is building a school in a wildlife corridor, in a rural area that is far from the Lehigh Acres students it is meant to serve.

“They are building one of the most expensive schools they have built,” Palencia said. “Many people in that community came to school board meetings to speak out against that because they wanted to keep that area rural.”

Palencia said “it doesn’t make any sense to put a school out there.” Palencia said the roads aren’t good enough to handle the added bus traffic to service the Lehigh Acres students. “Why are we putting it halfway across town?”

Palencia said the district has been relying on its capital budget to fund operational deficits, which will lead to further debt as the school district has to pay back the loans for its projects. “It’s wildly irresponsible,” Palencia said.

Palencia believes more teachers will be cut next year.

Palencia said she is hearing from many in the community about their concerns about academic achievement, and the growing budget. The school district’s budget has grown from $2.4 billion to $2.9 billion in the last four years. Preliminary budget figures show the budget going up further for next year. Palencia said she wants an independent audit of the district’s spending, and wants to cut spending on promotional items.

She said the school board does not exert proper controls over spending. “Very rarely does anybody pull something from the consent agenda (to discuss spending items),” Palencia said. “Everything should be discussed in the open.”

“It’s a huge budget. That’s bigger than the City of Tampa budget,” Palencia said. “Only 54% of our students are doing math and reading on grade level between grades 3 and grade 8. I would not call that a win,” she said. “We are leaving a solid majority of our kids behind. It’s not a good situation.”

On the subject of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School, Palencia called the school’s closure “very unfortunate.”

She compared the situation with Fort Myers Beach Elementary, where parents and members of the community came out to school board meetings to call for the reopening of the school, to Alva where community members came out to oppose a new school.

“It’s not surprising for those of us who go to the school board meetings.” Palencia said. “This is a school board that doesn’t listen to its constituents. They are building the Alva school where nobody wants it but are not rebuilding the school in Fort Myers Beach where everybody wants it.”