Not everyone can claim the career trajectory of Dr. Robin Dehlinger: high school history and English teacher, assistant principal, middle school principal, executive director of middle schools, then elementary schools, and now the District 4 representative on the Seminole County school board. It’s an impressive résumé, to say the least.

Dehlinger’s election took place on Aug. 20, along with the race for the District 3 representative, the primary elections for US Senator and House Representative, and the Circuit Judge elections, among others. 

Board member Amy Pennock had previously held the District 4 seat, but when she decided not to run for reelection, Dehlinger took the opportunity, running against Carl Tipton for the position.

“Knowing that you’re going to need to get thousands of people to vote for you, it’s very challenging,” Dehlinger said. “I attended a lot of events, just to meet people, and so that they could see me, and I could talk to them, and tell them about what I believed about the school system, and all of those things. It’s like a full-time job, really—running for office.”

Though she already had considerable recognition due to her work in the school system, Dehlinger and her campaign team led door-to-door canvasses in order to garner more awareness among the general public, and made calls to request donations.

On the day of the election, Dehlinger spent the morning driving between various polling locations for last-minute campaigning before heading back home in time to watch the results come out.

“Throughout the day, I was very anxious,” Dehlinger said. “I put a lot into this race—like everybody does—and you just never know what’s going to happen. You want to win, but there’s always that uncertainty. So all day, I was just thinking and praying that I would be successful.”

Dehlinger hopes to focus on halting the increase in restricted or banned books during her term.

“I am opposed to [book banning],” Dehlinger said. “And I have been on the record about that. And I’ve even written for the Orlando Sentinel, as a viewpoint, and letters to the editor. Because as a former teacher and as a history major and someone who’s very concerned about wanting our kids to know the truth about everything and be able to read the literature they want to read, I’m pretty passionate about that.”

She also listed recruitment and treatment of teachers among the most significant issues that she would like to address.

“How do we recruit teachers, and how do we keep teachers?” Dehlinger said. “Pay for teachers is the big issue, and we can’t really give big raises to teachers unless the state funds us more appropriately. And that is something I think we have got to really push hard on.”

Dehlinger won her race with 57 percent of the votes, meaning that she can end her campaign and take office on Nov. 19. However, the results are not quite as cut and dry for District 3 candidates. A three-way race between Kelly Critz, Stephanie Arguello, and incumbent Abby Sanchez, one candidate would have needed to win over more than 50 percent of voters in order to end their race. Because none of the three ended up with a majority of the votes, Arguello and Sanchez (the two with the highest percentages) will face off again on Nov. 5.

Sanchez has focused her campaign on creating a recognizable image of herself and the programs she has worked on.

“I don’t like sending mailers out, because I think it’s a waste of money, and people just throw them away,” Sanchez said. “I most likely will be continuing doing my social media [and] my digital marketing. I have had donations: people giving me contributions to billboards and my signs. I’ve been blessed, because my campaign is looking strong because I have a lot of support from a lot of my thousands and thousands of students that I taught, and all my teachers that I’ve worked with.”

Sanchez’s top priorities include growing school programs for career and technical education as well as art and academics. She also hopes to re-engage the community with their local authorities, and having served on the school board since 2016, she is well-known both by voters and by her peers in various levels of government.

“Unfortunately, I feel that at the state level, our state has tried to dismantle our public schools,” Sanchez said. “And I have a connection with so many people in Tallahassee, as well as locally, and I still want to continue being a voice of the teachers and our constituents.”

Interested students and voters can learn more about Sanchez and her goals by going to her campaign website or Facebook pages, Vote Abby Sanchez and Abby Greene Sanchez.

Arguello’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment, but according to her official website, she aims to embrace the positive changes of the times by focusing on current challenges and the experiences of students. 

Arguello has worked primarily in science and health education, and has led several public health programs through her work with various nonprofits and community institutions. She lists among her “Key Issues” a focus on students’ needs, well-being and development of 21st Century skills. She also hopes to establish a better relationship with the community, and recognize teachers who exemplify the best qualities of their jobs.

Students and community members can find more information on Arguello’s campaign through her website, or her Instagram, @arguello4schools.

Sanchez and Arguello should see a larger voter turnout on Nov. 5—when the presidential and secondary elections will also appear on the ballot, but the lack of awareness about the August elections led to major roadblocks for everyone running in them.

“There [are] a lot of people that just don’t even know when elections are, particularly a primary election,” Dehlinger said. “If there’s no president or something like that on the ticket, they’re just not interested. So those are challenges; you have to just keep up your determination.”

Not many voters even realize that the Aug. 20 elections exist, much less take the time out of their day to vote in them. A similar lack of enthusiasm toward local politics exists among students. In fact, in a poll, 72 percent of students indicated that they did not even know the names of any current school board members.

“We don’t have any rights to decide who gets chosen [for the school board],” senior Justin Hazelwood said. “And a lot of people are just like, ‘I don’t care. It’s not my business.’ I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m one of those people, but I honestly don’t know much about it.” 

Past school board members have continuously tried to address the lack of student feedback through programs or propositions (some more successful than others), but a considerable communication gap still remains between the board and the students it presides over. 

Junior Darby Floyd attended a school board meeting in protest of recent anti-LGBTQ policies, and found it well-structured and mostly effective, but hopes that the board will do more to address social and mental issues affecting students.

“I wish the school board would talk more about helping students get into their environment and find people that they know, and socialize,” Floyd said. “That’s all good if you want to be spread out, but some people don’t get along, and I wish they would actually help with other experiences or bullying.”

Dehlinger, Sanchez, and Arguello have all expressed a desire to connect with students and incorporate student opinions into their policy-making.

“Students should know that I care about them,” Dehlinger said. “When I was a teacher, I always tried to have good relationships with students. I wanted to get to know them; I wanted them to know me.”

Once Dehlinger assumes office, her contact information will be listed on the school board’s website, but until then, students can contact her and learn more about her at vote4robin.org.