Escambia County School Board District 4 seat heads to November runoff election

The race for Escambia County School Board’s District 4 seat will go to a run-off.

None of the four candidates vying for the District 4 seat garnered over 50% of the total votes in Tuesday night's primary election. Therefore, the top two candidates, Rich Holzknecht, a 28-year veteran Navy Pilot and father of four, and Carissa Bergosh, a classroom teacher and guidance counselor, will advance to a runoff election Nov. 5.

Follow along here: Live election results

The District 4 seat is currently held by Chair Patty Hightower, who served five terms on the board but opted against seeking reelection this year.

Holzknecht garnered 3,581 votes in the primary, or 30.8%, Bergosh received 3,394 votes, or 29.2% in the unofficial results Tuesday with all 19 precincts reporting.

The third-place candidate, Earle McAuley, garnered 25.8% of the total votes with 2,993 votes. The final candidate, Brian Ranelli, garnered 14.2% of the total votes with 1,647 votes. Their names will not appear on the general election ballot.

Some of Holzknecht's main campaign priorities have been reducing disciplinary issues, addressing salary compression for teachers and shielding school libraries from age-inappropriate materials.

While Holznecht ultimately secured the lead in the District 4 race, he told the News Journal following the results that “we’ll celebrate tonight and go back to work” and carry his campaign into the November election.

Holznecht said he has spent his career training young people in the military, then again raising four children of his own, who are all Escambia County Public School graduates. Now, he plans to continue to “defend” the children of Escambia County in his position on the school board.

“I’ve said this from the very beginning … this is about the children,” Holznecht told the News Journal Tuesday. “I believe they are our hope, our future, our heritage.”

Holznecht said he has lots of ideas when it comes to addressing drops in student enrollment, teacher salary compression, “unloading” the teachers and getting students back to educational basics.

“We’re bleeding kids right now,” Holznecht said of enrollment. “There’s plenty we can do.”

For Holzknecht, a major component of resolving disciplinary issues is enforcement. This means having strong administrators in place and holding the superintendent accountable to make sure they are doing their job.

“That principal is responsible for fixing it. If an administrator cannot fix it, the superintendent needs to be held responsible by the school board to get somebody else in there,” Holzknecht told the News Journal. “This is the perspective I bring as a military man. Give them a chance to fix it, if they can’t, find someone else. It’s about holding people accountable for doing the right thing.”

Candidate Q&A: Rich Holzknecht Rich Holzknecht for Escambia County School Board, District 4 | Candidate Q&A

In terms of personnel, Holzknecht said addressing teacher salary compression was also a major priority in order to help pay long-time veteran teachers more equitably.

And referencing the controversy about book challenges, Holzknecht said the responsibility of the board is to enforce Florida statute that shields school libraries from age-inappropriate materials. This includes topics such as gender fluidity.

“We don’t need to be forcing it before they’re ready to receive it,” he said. “I’ll defend (children) like I defended the nation for 28 years.”

Bergosh is not new to the board, as she was appointed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to serve on the board for a year during another board member’s emergency vacancy.

After a full day of campaigning Tuesday, Bergosh said she is “very happy and honored” to be able to carry her campaign into the November election and potentially join the board once again.

Bergosh said she will continue to lead her campaign with reinstating discipline in schools as her “main focus right now.”

Overall, she is “honored” by the number of voters who came out to cast a ballot in the school board race.

“They (voters) got out and showed their support,” Bergosh said. “It was a humbling experience to see our community come out and show their democratic voice.”

One of Bergosh's priorities for this term is improving academic performance, and she said it is critical to minimize distractions for students and free up teachers' time.

“I talk with parents and teachers daily. One of the issues they see daily is discipline,” Bergosh told the News Journal in a previous interview. “That is an issue that distracts the other kids, it distracts our teachers from what they love doing – teaching.”

She also wants to prioritize equipping teachers with the resources that they need in the classroom to empower students.

Given her background in counseling, she said she is able to see the complex needs students have for help with mental health and self-esteem and the need for tools, strategies and resources to help make positive decisions.

When it comes to inappropriate books, Bergosh thinks that it’s not right to expose children to books that they don’t have the discernment or maturity to understand.

“It’s our responsibility to protect our kids,” Bergosh said. “I will not have taxpayers paying for these books.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County School Board District 4 seat heads to November runoff election