Fresh off resigning as Palm Beach County Democratic chair, Mindy Koch files to run for School Board
Immediately after resigning as chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, Mindy Koch filed paperwork to run for School Board.
Koch had a tumultuous, 17-month run as chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party, culminating in her resignation Wednesday afternoon.
She then drove to the Supervisor of Elections Office headquarters and turned in paperwork as a candidate for Palm Beach County School Board, Koch said Thursday in a telephone interview. She’s running in District 5, which takes in the southern part of the county — Boca Raton and the unincorporated area to the west — from the Atlantic Ocean to the Everglades
Koch 70, is a career educator.
“Public education is what has made America the great nation that it is. And we have to make sure that that continues,” she said. “I can make a difference.”
She said she’d like to develop an alternative to the raging battles over books that have taken place as political culture wars have enveloped schools in the post-pandemic era.
Koch suggested having people read books in question, in the format of a book club, who could “then make a decision about which books are worthy for our children to be reading. And then parents are involved in a very direct way about making decisions about those kinds of things.
“I think the parents need to be involved in that decision-making, not just a knee-jerk reaction because of a picture on the front page of the book or what somebody tells them it’s about,” she said.
Koch taught mostly English and language arts, in both Broward and Palm Beach counties. She said she’s taught from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade, but mostly taught eighth grade.
Koch has a bachelor’s degree in special education, a master’s degree in gifted student education and a doctorate in leadership and curriculum. She was involved in the teachers’ unions in both counties and is a past chair of the Broward Teachers Union Political Action Committee.
“I’ve always wanted to be on the School Board. I’ve got all that experience in education, and I’d love to share it,” she said.
Frank A. Barbieri is the current School Board member in the district. More than two years ago Barbieri said he wouldn’t seek a fifth term in 2024.
There are four other candidates who’ve filed paperwork allowing them to raise and spend money for the District 5 seat: Gloria Branch, Mike Letsky, Suzanne Page and Charman Postel.
Koch said several elected officials encouraged her to run and she has the endorsements of state Sens. Tina Polsky and Lori Berman, state Reps. Kelly Skidmore and Katherine Waldron, and Boca Raton City Council members Andy Thomson and Yvette Drucker.
Koch has been a Democratic committeewoman since 2000, and is a former county party vice chair, a former president of the Boca-Delray Democratic Club, and unsuccessful candidate for Florida Senate in 2016 and for the Florida House in 2018.
Koch was the subject of criticism from a faction of the county Democratic Party organization almost from the moment she was elected to the position in December 2022 — by just one vote.
In March, she survived an attempt by state Democratic Chair Nikki Fried to remove her, but on Wednesday she said she’d had enough, and resigned.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.