Jon Lynch

Q. What is your top priority for the district as a candidate for School Board and what strategies do you suggest to address it? 

As a father of two daughters currently enrolled in the Manatee County School System, one of my top priorities it to safeguard and protect our parental rights. We all experienced a lot of overreach in the past, much of it based on fear, not facts. We can’t let that happen again. We need to embrace more common-sense thinking and make decisions that are based on facts over feelings.

Q. What is the biggest opportunity that, if embraced by the district, would lead to an improvement in student achievement?

As a parent who experienced the advantages of early learning programs, I can tell you first hand, they do work. I feel if we stress the importance and encourage more participation of this in our community it will pay dividends in the near future. By increasing VPK participation rates we can bring the overall grades for students and schools up. As a county we have made great strides over the last 20 years in regards to VPK, but I believe we can do more.

Q. How can we ensure our Pre-K through 12th grade district programs and curriculum meet the needs of our business community in preparing students to successfully enter the workforce and/or pursue post-secondary educational opportunities?

This is an issue that interests me greatly. Not every student is college bound. I believe that if we have more trades driven programs that involve local businesses we can build a stronger and more successful community. I would like to see more focus and availability of on-the-job internships for students in high school to take advantage of. I believe many local businesses will be eager to get behind this. There is a massive shortage in trades technicians in many of our local industries. Anything from plumbing, to HVAC, mechanics and auto body just to name a few. These positions are all high paying jobs that are in high demand and have been grossly disregarded for the last 20 plus years. It would be substantial for students to have the ability to gauge their interest in the early years of high school vs waiting until after they graduate without a plan in place.

Q. What role should local businesses play in supporting our schools to ensure students success and that they are graduating with the skills necessary for successful employment?

As a local business owner myself, I think the best thing local businesses can do is to be involved in your community. As we develop more internship programs, local business would need to get on board, get involved and take advantage of it. These kids are our future, why would we not invest in them? We “business owners” need to sponsor what we can and invest where we can. The more we are available to the schools and PTO boards, the better. It is impossible to understand the needs of the schools if we aren’t present to experience it. Investing in the kids and therefore the schools is for the greater good of our community and our future.