Headlines on PNJ.com: This is the news from Wednesday, August 21
Visit pnj.com for all the election results in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, as well as the new “high-end watering hole” that serves crawfish pies.
Santa Rosa School District Superintendent Karen Barber was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday.
After results were announced from all 41 precincts, Barber won with 16,710 votes, or 49.23 percent of the ballots cast. She defeated David Godwin, president of the Santa Rosa Professional Educators, and Brenda Stephens, former treasurer of the Santa Rosa County Moms for Liberty.
Godwin received 12,905 votes (38.02 percent), while Stephens received 4,328 votes (12.75 percent).
For additional primary election results, visit https://www.pnj.com/elections/results/2024-08-20/florida#local-results.
Barber said she was gratified by the election results and honored to have the trust of Santa Rosa County voters.
“I look forward to serving the students of Santa Rosa County for another four years, and we will continue to build on the success of our school district,” she said. “I am also grateful to the school district’s 3,700 educators. They are committed to the district’s mission to love, teach and serve our students.”
Godwin, a geometry teacher at Pace High School, expressed disappointment with the outcome but advocated moving on.
“This is certainly not the outcome we wanted. I had a lot of good people working hard for me, but we are making progress,” Godwin said. “I have a job to do tomorrow. I have to teach classes and I will help my students as best I can.”
He added that he will continue to work with the Santa Rosa School District to reach a contract agreement for teachers in a timely manner.
Stephens could not be reached for comment.
Barber said she is looking forward to the opening of Soundside High School and the Santa Rosa County Center for Innovation next year. She noted that both facilities will focus on STEM curricula, but the district also has plans to expand career training.
Barber has been an educator for 38 years and has worked in the Santa Rosa School District for 27 years. She has served as a teacher at Navarre High School, assistant principal at Holley Navarre Middle, Gulf Breeze Middle and East Milton elementary schools, principal at Chumuckla Elementary School and director of federal programs for the district.
She was first elected superintendent in 2020. Under Barber’s leadership, the school district has its highest graduation rates ever and boasts four more years of “A” ratings from the Florida Department of Education. The school district also saw a 177 percent increase in industry certifications and a 95 percent student attendance rate for the first semester of the 2023-24 school year.
Godwin has also coached football, baseball, basketball and track during his career. As chief negotiator for the teachers union, Godwin also led the drive for teacher pay raises last year. He led more than a dozen negotiating sessions before finally agreeing to a 3.87 percent increase in teacher pay, which he viewed as a “forced” agreement with the school district.
