Lakeland man will challenge incumbent William Allen in Polk County School Board race

The one incumbent on the Polk County School Board seeking re-election next year now faces a challenger.

Bernnie Brandt of Lakeland has filed to run in District 1, taking on first-term incumbent William Allen. The election is nonpartisan.

Brandt, 33, said he grew up in Winter Haven and returned to Polk County in 2019 after living elsewhere in the state. He holds an associate's degree in criminal justice from Tallahassee Community College and is the married father of a 7-month-old son.

Brandt, who works as a security supervisor, is making his first run for office. He said he's never been particularly interested in politics, but the birth of his first child caused him to consider ways of creating a positive future for the boy.

“And I figured the best chance for me to make a potential long-term difference for him and his education would be to run for School Board, to not only help him but help the kids in his age group, people who are having kids in the future, kids who are already in the system and, obviously, taxpayers who contribute to the system and ultimately benefit from it,” he said.

Brandt said he is concerned by recent reports that some classrooms in Polk County’s public schools lacked air conditioning as the academic year began in August.

“I've got a couple of friends who have kids who say that they're sweating through class every day, and that's a concern,” he said. “Being from Florida, that's one thing you don't want to be without. So I'm definitely going to look and see if I can figure out a little more about that issue.”

National political issues have increasingly spread into public school policies in recent years, but Brandt said he would like to see the School Board avoid political fights. He said that discussions of social issues in classes can “derail” the primary purpose of education.

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“I feel like we live in a day and age where everyone wants to put every issue into every other issue, if they can,” he said. “And from a School Board perspective, obviously these students are members of society, so they're going to be exposed to things they see through their parents, through social media, things like that. But as a school system, we focus on educating the kids.”

Allen, who filed to run for re-election in April, has not yet reported any campaign contributions. An associate professor at Florida Southern College, he defeated incumbent Billy Townsend in the 2020 election.

District 1 covers the Lakeland area. While candidates must live in the district, voting takes place countywide.

In the only other 2024 School Board race, incumbent Lori Cunningham is not seeking re-election in District 2. Travis Keyes and Marcus Wright Jr. have filed in that race.

Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Incumbent William Allen draws challenger in Polk School Board race