ABOUT DIANA MOORE

As a lifelong resident of District 3, I have seen firsthand the challenges our community faces. My journey began as a dedicated volunteer in local schools, where I worked tirelessly to support teachers and students. With years of experience in education and community service, I am committed to advocating for positive change.

Diana has been an advocate for children, teachers and our public education system for many years. She grew up in her district and went to Winegard, Walker Middle and Oak Ridge High School. She has been an employee, as well as a citizen advocate. Teachers speak up for children because they don't have their own organized group so as a teeacher, we know a teacher's working conditions are a child's learning conditions. They deserve a qualified and certified teacher with the training and knowledge of child development as well as the state standards, combined with a growing "toolbelt" that they build throughout their career working with students.

I amfocusing on several issues:

1) Safety-Students and employees need to know they are safe each abd every day in their learning environment. WE currently have a School REsource Officer on every campus in OCPS. Ask about the security measures at your student's learning site. Make sure they are being updated and reviewed for improvements because we can always improve the security of our campuses.

2) Choices- Ask parents and students why they are moving to other learning options? Is it security? Is it the focus on high stakes testing? Is it the discipline and bullying that goes unchecked. We should survey parents and students for their needs and combine that information with teacher and administrator training and research to think outside of the box( or traditional Brick and Mortar) we knows as our schools and find other options to keep students learning in our public schools. We have lots of choices like Magnet programs, Career Technical Education college campuses offering certicates for culinary services, fire fighting, beauty industry, etc. Magnet programs with a focus on STEM or finance. We can do a better job of advertising these options to the community and work to add additional ideas like micros schools. We can look for solutions together.

3) Professional Pay for Professional Work- Florida is ranked 50th in pay. How can we attract and keep the best talent in our schools if we don't pay a competitive salary? I can read the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and look for the programs or "fat" in the budget. While losing studsents means we must cut back, we can find solutions to pay our employees a living wage plus raise pay so they stay and make OCPS the A district that it is, and realize that it is an A district based on the hard work of 24,000 employees who work to make students successfule everyday.

4) Transparency, Integrity and a Culture that doesn't threaten the livelihood of employees who speak up. I am personally aware of the many stories and the broken "Whistleblower Process" in Orange County. I will ask for a Work Session out of the gate to bring these concers to light and improve the working conditions so that employees don't feel afraid to speak up. It is collaboration that is the core of a Professional Learning Committee and yet, teachers are not able to speak up.

5) Solutions, not excuses-I watch the School Board meetings and started a Facebook page for the community to join me as the School Board Members make decisions about the policies and actions going forward. Often, I see school board members, vote in a "consent agenda" with little to no questioning or offering otf solutions. They should rely on the staff through the Superintendent for those day to day operations, but there are several issues that need more review, like E-bikes, vaping on campus and the consequences. We need to honestly review the research on the 1 to 1 computer devices. Get feedback from teachers, parents and students on the current model. Let's update something put in place by the last superintendent. Another example of a solution that came from staff, was when I saw Maurice Draggon get up at the microphone and explain that his department had cut thousands of dollars in repair expenses by moving the laptops to a leasing corporation that included the repair personnel and costs. Let's encourage the staff when they come up with such solutions with recogniton and financial incentives. Let's all work for solutions and stop making excuses for the students leaving and the teachers leaving so we can have a true A plus district. 

*Disclaimer. There are great things happening in classrooms and schools everyday. We don't hear about them enough. Let's do a better at celebrating successes and looking for solutions when something is not working but always, ask the employees for their input. They are a resource and world of knowledge we often ignore in surveys. This is my focus and reason for running to represent the families and employees of District 3 but all families and employees of Orange County Public School going forward. I will be an activist for public education and the rights of students in public educaton. My education here carried me to a p[rivate college known for teaching, with a scholarhsip. I came back to give back where I began my journey.

I humbly ask for your vote for School Board District 3 

​Diana Moore