Who are the four people Gov. Ron DeSantis just suspended from the Broward School Board?
Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson from the Broward County School Board on Friday, calling them “incompetent.”
READ MORE: State grand jury recommends five Broward School members be removed. Read the report here
DeSantis’ displeasure with the four stems from the Broward School Board’s response to the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting that killed 17 people and injured 17 others.
Who are these members?
▪ Patricia Good, 59, a former Miami-Dade schools administrator who, at the time she ran for the Broward board in 2010 and assumed office, lived in Pembroke Pines and had served on various education advisory boards in the county. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Barry University, according to the Broward County Schools website. According to The Morning Call, Good was born in Havana and has been living in Florida since 1968. She had previously served on the Early Learning Coalition, Broward’s Charter Review Board and Pembroke Pines’ Education Advisory Board. She represented District 2 and her term was set to have ended in 2024.
▪ Donna Korn, 51, is a graduate of Western High School in Davie and a former English teacher at her alma mater and a PTA president. Korn was first elected to the School Board in 2012 and has served as chair twice. She is a founding member and past vice chair of Voices for Children of Broward County and has been a guardian ad litem. On her campaign reelection website this summer, Korn said her priorities included safety and security, teacher compensation and ensuring all students have the life skills needed to be “ready for the world when they leave” high school.
Meet the candidates running for the Broward County School Board — there are 22 of them
▪ Ann Murray, 80, represents District 1 and her term was set to end in November 2022. She has served on the board since 2008 but said earlier this year she would not run for reelection. Among the candidates who announced a run? Murray’s daughter Marie Murray Martin. Rodney Velez garnered 41% percent of the vote in the Aug. 23 primary race. Murray Martin got 35% and the two will face each other in a Nov. 8 runoff.
Murray was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and moved to Hollywood in 1968, her Broward Schools bio said. Since the 1970s, Murray has had roles with Broward Schools, dating back to working as a transportation specialist. In 2020, Murray said her Facebook page had been hacked with a meme about white privilege that many deemed racist, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
▪ Laurie Rich Levinson, 59. After 12 years on the School Board serving District 6, Levinson, daughter of Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich, said earlier this year she was not seeking reelection. Levinson was elected in 2010, and reelected in 2014 and 2018. Born and raised in South Florida, she has three children who all went to Broward County public schools. She earned her bachelor’s in economics from Brandeis University.
Miami Herald staff writer Jimena Tavel contributed to this report.
