Political newcomer Maxeme “Max” Tuchman impressed in the August primary by coming in second in race for the Miami-Dade School Board District 7 seat.
Tuchman bested a district veteran and now faces incumbent Mary Blanco in the general election.
Blanco, a high school counselor and school psychologist, was appointed to the seat once held by School Board member Lubby Navarro, who was accused of stealing $100,000 from the district through her expense account.
Blanco, currently a guidance counselor at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, was appointed to the seat in January by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and now needs to win election to hang onto it.
Blanco won the primary with 45% of the vote, but fell short of 50% to win outright.
Blanco has 29 years of education experience, including jobs in the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts. She is a strong proponent of mental health initiatives in schools.
But we feel her challenger, Maxeme “Max” Tuchman, a tech consultant who says her views have been formed by her Holocaust survivor grandparents and her Cuban immigrant parents, remains the better choice.
She will be an independent voice on the Board, which is undergoing some philosophical battles.
Tuchman will bring fresh views to a nine-member Board, where Republican and Democratic members now often clash on culture issues. If Blanco wins, the school board will maintain a conservative majority.
“This is a very important race,” said Tuchman, who told the Editorial Board she has knocked on “10,000 doors” in District 7 to get the message across. Tuchman, a Democrat, is clearly the outsider in this race — and she is leaning into that reputation.
A Miami Palmetto Senior High graduate, Tuchman has an impressive resume, including a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard. Tuchman launched — and then sold to toy giant Mattel — a tech education company called Caribu, a literacy platform for young children that Time Magazine considered one of the best inventions of 2019. She was also a teacher at Miami Northwestern Senior High and is the former local head of Teach for America.
If elected, Tuchman says she will focus on early childhood education and championing the adoption of new tech-based ways to prepare students for the jobs of the future.
“We know the impact of a strong foundation and early literacy, which allows our students to succeed,” she said.
Blanco, a Miami Dade College trustee, is among a handful of school board members appointed by DeSantis in Miami-Dade and Broward. Blanco told the Editorial Board she understood her appointment made her vulnerable to challengers. Because she failed to get more than 50% of the vote, she was forced into the runoff with Tuchman.
“I feel like I’m running against the governor and the lieutenant governor,” Tuchman told the Board this week, referring to Blanco fliers that heavily promote the endorsements of DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez..
Tuchman says she will continue knocking on doors because she believes the school board needs an independent voice with new ideas and a tech-savvy attitude. We agree.
The Herald Editorial Board endorses MAXEME “MAX” TUCHMAN in the School Board District 7 race.
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