August 12, 2024 • 12 mins
Branch is one of five candidates running for an open seat on the School Board in District 5.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Joel Malcolm Ford WJNO dot com my election spotlight
on the Palm Beach County School Board race for District five.
Five candidates in this race for District five, including Gloria Branch.
Shall we check in with her now? Thank you for
joining me, Gloria.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you Joel for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
All right, let's get some background on you, so for
the listeners, let them know who you are.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Okay. I've been in Boca ver charl since nineteen eighty three.
I attended Boca High I graduated from FAU a degree
in finance. I have a thirty year banking career, past
chair of the FAU National Alumni Boarder Directors, past board
member of the SAU Foundation Board, past board member of
the FARTE Fuller for Underprivileged Children aged six weeks through
(00:43):
teenage years, involved in numerous other nonprofits over the years.
I've been involved in this community for thirty five years, personally, professionally,
and politically. I'm currently a substitute teacher K through twelve
any subject. I'm currently a board member for the Spanish
River High School PTSA, and i have child in the
Pumage County School District.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Now, what great is your is your I guess your daughter, right,
I'm looking at your kidding page. Here is she in?
She's a junior, okay, in high school? All right?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All right?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So as a substitute teacher, you say, for nearly two
years at first hand insight into the educational system, what
kind of things have you learned as far as that's concerned,
I really.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Have learned, which is my platform, back to basics and
fundamental reading, writing, maths, because I see how kids are
not on grade level. They're not. It's almost like not
every child, but it's almost like reading for instance, phonetic awareness, phonics,
word recognition, site words, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Some second
(01:49):
graders could not even sound out words. So it made
me think, and we're a B school district, so what
are we not doing and what do we need to
do to become an A school district?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, it had been an A school district and uh,
you know, one of your opponents in this race is
making that a big platform of his saying that Pobbach
County Schools has lost its A rating and downgraded to
a B, pointing out the third grade test scores for
math are around five year lows only fifty four percent
of kids can read, so, uh, you know, wanted to
(02:24):
get your thoughts on all that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That is correct. We were my dad's johnson who was
the superintendent of schools for ten years along with the principal.
That's your father, that's my father.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Wow, all right, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Ten years for ten years when he was school district,
we were in a school district. All ten years we
were the number one urban school district and now we've
dropped to a B and Day County is ahead of us.
So we are definitely we need to look at the
programs we're doing. When I say back to basics, rol,
I mean, it seems like we're doing everything else but
(03:03):
basic fundamental learning. We're trying to reading program and how
they teach math, and so we really have to look
at have these programs raised student achievement and they haven't.
You know, you may have a handful of students. This
is not for every single person, but we need to
look at what programs are we doing to teach these kids.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know, you have as one of your points in
your platform encourage and support parental rights in public education.
That made me think of the parental rights and education
law of course, championed by Governor d. Santus and now
law in our public schools. I wanted to get your
thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, it is the law, and parents should be involved
in their students' education. Every student is different, every student
learns differently and with parental involvement. You know, teachers, they
have twenty twenty five kids. I mean when I substitute
and I teach. When I substitute, I don't sit there.
I teach the kids and you have you may have
behavior issues, or the mother or the parents excuse me,
(04:04):
the parents, mother or father or guardian may tell you
something about a student that this is how they learned better.
So the teacher, she has a lot of things to
do during the day obviously besides teaching the kids, so
she learns from the parents about their child specifically. Then
it helps the teacher better in the classroom, teach the kids.
(04:25):
And I absolutely think parents should be involved in their
their child's education.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
The big part of that law, you know, also has
to do with the pronouns and the you know, different
things like that. So I wanted to gather your thoughts
on all of that as far as uh uh, you know,
teachers not discussing the sexual orientation, gender identity and as such.
Was have you ever experienced that actually being in a classroom,
(04:53):
you know, whether it's your classroom or one that you've
you've heard.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Of, you know, Joe, we have spent a lot of
time chasing their woke philosophy. And I think, again, we
don't want to teach our children hate, and we don't
want to radicalize our students to you know, hate America.
And I think all the critical race theory and racial
(05:17):
justice and cancel culture and identity politics and sexual orientation
and gender ID and et cetera, that doesn't belong in
the classroom, Joe. We're here to educate kids. That's why
my platform is back to basics. We're doing everything else,
it seems to educate our kids. And we're a B school.
So that woke philosophy based on everything I just said,
(05:39):
whatever anybody wants to call it, it does not belong
in the classroom. What people want to do in their
own personal life, Joal have no problem with that. That's
their life and they get to pick whatever they want
to do. It does not belong in our school district.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Let's talk about budgetary concerns or at least the concerns
of some candidates running for the this school board saying
that there, you know, there's in the other race for
District one. I can tell you that there is a
candidate who is making a big part of their platform.
(06:16):
You know, have you had a chance to get a
look at the budget for the school district? Obviously it's
a giant school district, but you know, maybe have you
had any thoughts on as far as the budget or
things going where they should?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
My opinion on the budget, I obviously haven't sat down
and look at the whole budget. I do. It's five
point five billion dollars. And what we need to do,
as my background in banking and finance is zero based
the budget, perform a cost benefit analysis on all position
and programs, and we need to reallocate based on empirical
(06:53):
evidence of improved performance. Meanwhile, this program helps iner achievement. Okay,
why do we have it? We need to like put
it in three categories. The first one is we have
to have this for our school dishes, The second one
is that would be nice to have, and the third
one is we don't need this, so why are we
paying for it? So once we do that it's way
easier to see what's working and what's not in student achievement.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
How do you feel about the I guess coming up
in August you're going to have unless they're slowed down
by it. But the plan was to have walked through
metal detectors at every Palm Beach County high school. I
wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You know, my daughter does it right now. It's Spanish
River High School. Safety and security is a continuous Joel.
We have to stay on top of it, anything anything
to keep our students safe. If metal detectors is one
of the things that it is, then I'm all for it.
It's you know, safety and security is not negotiable.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Is it running smoothly there at Spanish River very Let me.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Tell you something. That principle at Spanish River, who actually
he was one of my dad students, by the way,
she on back in the late eighties. She is absolutely
on top of her game. That school is safe. I
never worry one second when my daughter is there. The
teachers are teaching, the kids are in the classroom. It
is run just like my dad ran it when he
(08:19):
was principal there for ten years. You know, when my
dad was there, he had I don't know if you
know this, but he would bring in drug dogs, drug dogs,
undercover police officers suppose the students to see if anyone
would buy any drugs. That's how you got to keep
them safe. And you know what, Joel, nobody bought drugs
because my dad was out and about. That's what principles
have a huge job. Also. They have to be out
(08:40):
and about and know what's going on in their school,
not sitting in their office.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I was wondering what made you work as a you're
a banker, and you know what made you work as
a substitute teacher? Was it that you you know, was
it more recently and you had an eye on maybe
joining the you know, running for school board or and
do you feel that, you know, how imperative do you
(09:06):
feel it is that somebody have classroom experience to be
on the school boarders. We have board members that don't
have classroom experience as far as from a teacher standpoint,
obviously they've been students.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So yeah, I wanted to be a teacher. I love math.
I wanted to be a teacher in eighth grade, and
instead I went into banking and I needed more flexible.
I you know, kind of quote unquote retired from banking
and I started I'd do business development and project management
consulting because I needed flexibility with my daughter. But I
(09:38):
wanted to, you know, give back. And I love children.
I obviously have been in the school district, have a
microscopic view that nobody else have because my dad's been
in it since nineteen eighty three. And I love the kids.
I wanted to help them and I it really has
been eye opening being in the classroom. I think it's
important to be currently in the classroom, not past, but
(09:59):
currently everything given in our country and going on around
the world and in our schools, and we need to
get back to basics tool. I mean, that is my
biggest thing. You know. My passion and dedication are fueled
by a deep connection to our community and a desire
to see our schools thrive. And I know because I
substitute teach for almost two years now, and you just
(10:24):
get a passion for it. And I see what's going
on in the classrooms and I teach almost every day.
They call me every day. Substitutes our critical part. Otherwise
if you don't have them, you know, the teachers have
to divide the kids up and the teachers. Although I
wasn't supported by the endorsed by the teachers union, I
have a ton of support from the teachers because they
(10:45):
sayre like Gloria, you're in the class and you see
what we're going through.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Do you feel that you would be as as good
a candidate had you not had the two years two
plus years experience in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I think so because I I've been involved in the
school district forever. I have friends that are teachers, so
I hear it from them, and when I see a problem,
I'm a problem for joke Joel. When I see a problem,
I get involved as much as I can. And everybody's
been wanting me to run for office for a long time,
and it's really the perfect opportunity right now.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
All right, final question as I As I mentioned at
the start of this conversation, there are five countum five
candidates for this seat, which is currently held by Frank Barbieri,
who's been I don't know the amount of years, but
he's been He's been on the school board for quite
a while. What makes Gloria Branch the best candidate in
(11:42):
the nutshell.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
By background in governance, education and business. Knowing that my
skills that I've had over thirty five plus years in
business and education and finance, I equipped with the knowledge
and the skills to do that to be a school
board member.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
All right, Well, I appreciate you joining us and speaking
to the residents of school board, the District five community there.
South County Palm Beach County school Board District five candidate
Gloria branch On wj and O dot com, thanks again,
Thank you Jidel, have a great day.
Hey, Joel Malcolm Ford WJNO dot com my election spotlight
on the Palm Beach County School Board race for District five.
Five candidates in this race for District five, including Gloria Branch.
Shall we check in with her now? Thank you for
joining me, Gloria.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you Joel for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
All right, let's get some background on you, so for
the listeners, let them know who you are.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Okay. I've been in Boca ver charl since nineteen eighty three.
I attended Boca High I graduated from FAU a degree
in finance. I have a thirty year banking career, past
chair of the FAU National Alumni Boarder Directors, past board
member of the SAU Foundation Board, past board member of
the FARTE Fuller for Underprivileged Children aged six weeks through
(00:43):
teenage years, involved in numerous other nonprofits over the years.
I've been involved in this community for thirty five years, personally, professionally,
and politically. I'm currently a substitute teacher K through twelve
any subject. I'm currently a board member for the Spanish
River High School PTSA, and i have child in the
Pumage County School District.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Now, what great is your is your I guess your daughter, right,
I'm looking at your kidding page. Here is she in?
She's a junior, okay, in high school? All right?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
All right?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
So as a substitute teacher, you say, for nearly two
years at first hand insight into the educational system, what
kind of things have you learned as far as that's concerned,
I really.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Have learned, which is my platform, back to basics and
fundamental reading, writing, maths, because I see how kids are
not on grade level. They're not. It's almost like not
every child, but it's almost like reading for instance, phonetic awareness, phonics,
word recognition, site words, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Some second
(01:49):
graders could not even sound out words. So it made
me think, and we're a B school district, so what
are we not doing and what do we need to
do to become an A school district?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well, it had been an A school district and uh,
you know, one of your opponents in this race is
making that a big platform of his saying that Pobbach
County Schools has lost its A rating and downgraded to
a B, pointing out the third grade test scores for
math are around five year lows only fifty four percent
of kids can read, so, uh, you know, wanted to
(02:24):
get your thoughts on all that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That is correct. We were my dad's johnson who was
the superintendent of schools for ten years along with the principal.
That's your father, that's my father.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Wow, all right, okay, so.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Ten years for ten years when he was school district,
we were in a school district. All ten years we
were the number one urban school district and now we've
dropped to a B and Day County is ahead of us.
So we are definitely we need to look at the
programs we're doing. When I say back to basics, rol,
I mean, it seems like we're doing everything else but
(03:03):
basic fundamental learning. We're trying to reading program and how
they teach math, and so we really have to look
at have these programs raised student achievement and they haven't.
You know, you may have a handful of students. This
is not for every single person, but we need to
look at what programs are we doing to teach these kids.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
You know, you have as one of your points in
your platform encourage and support parental rights in public education.
That made me think of the parental rights and education
law of course, championed by Governor d. Santus and now
law in our public schools. I wanted to get your
thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well, it is the law, and parents should be involved
in their students' education. Every student is different, every student
learns differently and with parental involvement. You know, teachers, they
have twenty twenty five kids. I mean when I substitute
and I teach. When I substitute, I don't sit there.
I teach the kids and you have you may have
behavior issues, or the mother or the parents excuse me,
(04:04):
the parents, mother or father or guardian may tell you
something about a student that this is how they learned better.
So the teacher, she has a lot of things to
do during the day obviously besides teaching the kids, so
she learns from the parents about their child specifically. Then
it helps the teacher better in the classroom, teach the kids.
(04:25):
And I absolutely think parents should be involved in their
their child's education.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
The big part of that law, you know, also has
to do with the pronouns and the you know, different
things like that. So I wanted to gather your thoughts
on all of that as far as uh uh, you know,
teachers not discussing the sexual orientation, gender identity and as such.
Was have you ever experienced that actually being in a classroom,
(04:53):
you know, whether it's your classroom or one that you've
you've heard.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Of, you know, Joe, we have spent a lot of
time chasing their woke philosophy. And I think, again, we
don't want to teach our children hate, and we don't
want to radicalize our students to you know, hate America.
And I think all the critical race theory and racial
(05:17):
justice and cancel culture and identity politics and sexual orientation
and gender ID and et cetera, that doesn't belong in
the classroom, Joe. We're here to educate kids. That's why
my platform is back to basics. We're doing everything else,
it seems to educate our kids. And we're a B school.
So that woke philosophy based on everything I just said,
(05:39):
whatever anybody wants to call it, it does not belong
in the classroom. What people want to do in their
own personal life, Joal have no problem with that. That's
their life and they get to pick whatever they want
to do. It does not belong in our school district.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Let's talk about budgetary concerns or at least the concerns
of some candidates running for the this school board saying
that there, you know, there's in the other race for
District one. I can tell you that there is a
candidate who is making a big part of their platform.
(06:16):
You know, have you had a chance to get a
look at the budget for the school district? Obviously it's
a giant school district, but you know, maybe have you
had any thoughts on as far as the budget or
things going where they should?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
My opinion on the budget, I obviously haven't sat down
and look at the whole budget. I do. It's five
point five billion dollars. And what we need to do,
as my background in banking and finance is zero based
the budget, perform a cost benefit analysis on all position
and programs, and we need to reallocate based on empirical
(06:53):
evidence of improved performance. Meanwhile, this program helps iner achievement. Okay,
why do we have it? We need to like put
it in three categories. The first one is we have
to have this for our school dishes, The second one
is that would be nice to have, and the third
one is we don't need this, so why are we
paying for it? So once we do that it's way
easier to see what's working and what's not in student achievement.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
How do you feel about the I guess coming up
in August you're going to have unless they're slowed down
by it. But the plan was to have walked through
metal detectors at every Palm Beach County high school. I
wanted to get your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You know, my daughter does it right now. It's Spanish
River High School. Safety and security is a continuous Joel.
We have to stay on top of it, anything anything
to keep our students safe. If metal detectors is one
of the things that it is, then I'm all for it.
It's you know, safety and security is not negotiable.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Is it running smoothly there at Spanish River very Let me.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Tell you something. That principle at Spanish River, who actually
he was one of my dad students, by the way,
she on back in the late eighties. She is absolutely
on top of her game. That school is safe. I
never worry one second when my daughter is there. The
teachers are teaching, the kids are in the classroom. It
is run just like my dad ran it when he
(08:19):
was principal there for ten years. You know, when my
dad was there, he had I don't know if you
know this, but he would bring in drug dogs, drug dogs,
undercover police officers suppose the students to see if anyone
would buy any drugs. That's how you got to keep
them safe. And you know what, Joel, nobody bought drugs
because my dad was out and about. That's what principles
have a huge job. Also. They have to be out
(08:40):
and about and know what's going on in their school,
not sitting in their office.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I was wondering what made you work as a you're
a banker, and you know what made you work as
a substitute teacher? Was it that you you know, was
it more recently and you had an eye on maybe
joining the you know, running for school board or and
do you feel that, you know, how imperative do you
(09:06):
feel it is that somebody have classroom experience to be
on the school boarders. We have board members that don't
have classroom experience as far as from a teacher standpoint,
obviously they've been students.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So yeah, I wanted to be a teacher. I love math.
I wanted to be a teacher in eighth grade, and
instead I went into banking and I needed more flexible.
I you know, kind of quote unquote retired from banking
and I started I'd do business development and project management
consulting because I needed flexibility with my daughter. But I
(09:38):
wanted to, you know, give back. And I love children.
I obviously have been in the school district, have a
microscopic view that nobody else have because my dad's been
in it since nineteen eighty three. And I love the kids.
I wanted to help them and I it really has
been eye opening being in the classroom. I think it's
important to be currently in the classroom, not past, but
(09:59):
currently everything given in our country and going on around
the world and in our schools, and we need to
get back to basics tool. I mean, that is my
biggest thing. You know. My passion and dedication are fueled
by a deep connection to our community and a desire
to see our schools thrive. And I know because I
substitute teach for almost two years now, and you just
(10:24):
get a passion for it. And I see what's going
on in the classrooms and I teach almost every day.
They call me every day. Substitutes our critical part. Otherwise
if you don't have them, you know, the teachers have
to divide the kids up and the teachers. Although I
wasn't supported by the endorsed by the teachers union, I
have a ton of support from the teachers because they
(10:45):
sayre like Gloria, you're in the class and you see
what we're going through.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Do you feel that you would be as as good
a candidate had you not had the two years two
plus years experience in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
I think so because I I've been involved in the
school district forever. I have friends that are teachers, so
I hear it from them, and when I see a problem,
I'm a problem for joke Joel. When I see a problem,
I get involved as much as I can. And everybody's
been wanting me to run for office for a long time,
and it's really the perfect opportunity right now.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
All right, final question as I As I mentioned at
the start of this conversation, there are five countum five
candidates for this seat, which is currently held by Frank Barbieri,
who's been I don't know the amount of years, but
he's been He's been on the school board for quite
a while. What makes Gloria Branch the best candidate in
(11:42):
the nutshell.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
By background in governance, education and business. Knowing that my
skills that I've had over thirty five plus years in
business and education and finance, I equipped with the knowledge
and the skills to do that to be a school
board member.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
All right, Well, I appreciate you joining us and speaking
to the residents of school board, the District five community there.
South County Palm Beach County school Board District five candidate
Gloria branch On wj and O dot com, thanks again,
Thank you Jidel, have a great day.
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