Cassandra “Cassie” Gonyer, Krista Goodrich and Angela Kopnicky are vying for the District 2 seat on the Volusia County School Board.Primary elections are Aug. 20.
Anita Burnette currently holds the seat; she is not running for reelection.
District 2 includes the greater Daytona Beach area, Daytona Beach Shores, Ponce Inlet, South Daytona and a portion of Port Orange.
Cassandra "Cassie" Gonyer
Cassandra "Cassie" Gonyer believes teachers and parents need to work together to promote student success in the classroom, at home and beyond graduation. As a school board candidate, her top priorities are: Building connections between teachers and parents, schools and families to promote student success in and out of the classroom;ensuring every school has access to highly effective educators, programs and resources to meet the needs of every student; and recruiting and retaining high-quality employees in every department, from teachers and support professionals to transportation.
Cassandra “Cassie” Gonyer, 38, is a high school science teacher for Brevard County Virtual Schools and a parent to three daughters.
She has served on the Daytona Beach Mayor’s Equity Initiative Boards for education and “under 40,” but this is her first time seeking office. She is running for school board because she wants to strengthen relationships between teachers and parents.
“As a teacher, I need parents to keep my students successful in my classroom,” she said. “And I know, as a parent, I want to know what's going on in my kid’s classroom.”
Volusia's mass rezoning plans were an additional impetus for Gonyer to run.
“I want kids to be able to go to the school that they’re closest to so there’s a better chance for them to get there attendance wise and a better chance to get their families involved with the school,” she said.
Gonyer’s daughters were zoned to attend Pine Trail Elementary in Ormond Beach, but she filed a variance to keep them at their neighborhood school: Turie T. Small Elementary in Daytona Beach.
“I wasn’t willing to let them ride a bus (for) who knows how long,” she said. “That’s 30 minutes by car. I don’t know how long by bus.”
When it comes to Florida’s school voucher program, Gonyer said parents should have choices; however, it is “disheartening that money that is meant for public schools is being taken away from public schools.”
“Choice is good, but I want to see the accountability that comes with those choices as well — that students are still learning, they're still working towards a high school diploma, or they're still working towards job skills that they can use in the future,” she said. “I want to make sure no matter where that money is going, that there's accountability and that it's truly taking care of students and not just lining someone's pocket.”
In her opinion, Volusia high schools can stand out competitively by continuing to develop relationships with local colleges and businesses so students are prepared for post-graduate opportunities.
At the elementary and middle school levels, she recognizes the importance of recruiting and retaining “the best teachers that are going to consistently keep students engaged” so young learners are excited to attend school.
Gonyer appreciates that Gov. Ron DeSantis raised starting teachers’ pay to $47,500, but she would still like to “see the state take more responsibility in trying to take care of all teachers and rewarding their levels or years of experience and certifications.”
To ensure teachers and district employees have high-quality mental health, Gonyer said she wants to see what’s accessible through insurance, and if that’s not adequate, then look into supplement programs.
And for students, Gonyer wants teachers and families to be supportive, but she also recognizes that certified professionals should be on campuses, especially when tragedies occur.
“A lot of families can’t afford mental health care. It seems like extra to them,” Gonyer said. “So it should be something that we can readily provide to our students and our staff as well.”
When it comes to chaplains serving as counselors in schools, Gonyer said it would be “rather dangerous to lose access to mental health counselors in favor of chaplains.”
“All students should feel that they have a trusted adult to go to, and if you keep that more generic —a mental health counselor, as opposed to a specific religion’s chaplain — I think students are going to be a lot more open to that mental health counselor than, you know, wondering if their religion fits in with whatever chaplain is on campus,” she said. “I think you actually open a can of worms by bringing a chaplain on campus, and I don’t think it does a service to students.”
In discussing school safety, Gonyer noted single-point entries as a big improvement and said she appreciates the sheriff’s office considering using more crossing guards.
Additionally, Gonyer said she loves that each campus has a school resource officer.
“Not only is there a physical appearance of safety with there being an officer there, but the kids actually trust them and will go to them and will bring up concerns, and maybe if they saw something on campus, they’re more willing to share it with a trusted adult or trusted SRO that they know well.”
Gonyer “absolutely” believes diversity in literature is necessary and that “students should be able to read about and see and hear about characters that look like them and characters that don’t so that they can build empathy.”
While she doesn’t believe a single person, family or group should have the right to tell the entire district what can be read in schools, she said she is more concerned about student cellphone use than books.
“I do not support taking books off the shelf,” Gonyer said. “Let’s continue to work with families to decide what is appropriate for their children, both in the books they read and with the technology they’re using.”
Gonyer said artificial intelligence can be used as a tool, but both teachers and students will need adequate training.
Teachers can use AI to create new practice problems, she said as an example, and students can use it to assist them in finding specific words or phrases but not in generating thoughts or ideas.
“Just like a power tool, you need to be taught how to use that power tool. You can’t just go pick it up and, you know, go build a treehouse,” she said.
Krista Goodrich
Krista Goodrich is running for Volusia County School Board because she wants to provide policies and accountability to ensure all children receive a quality education. Her top priorities as a school board candidate are: Diving into the budget to make certain the board and district acts with fiduciary responsibility and transparency; ensuring that every child can get to school safely; ensuring that ESE students, gifted students and every child in between has the resources needed for a common-sense education combining the classics of reading, writing and arithmetic with the standards of what's new in STEM, the arts and digital skills as well as focus on increased literacy rates for our youngest learners so that they have a higher chance of success throughout their education.
Krista Goodrich, 46, has started more than 20 businesses and has formerly served as a board member on the Daytona Beach Beachside Redevelopment Board and the Daytona Beach Leisure Services Board. She is convinced she can bring a fresh perspective to Volusia County School Board.
“Our kids deserve to have a dynamo in there that doesn't just talk about leading,” she said. “I actually have led my entire life. I've created businesses in a variety of fields. I've worked with people from every single walk of life, and I've been a champion for everyone I've worked with. Our kids need someone that will step in and do that and will go and actually fight and not let their foot off the gas until we get the resources we need.”
Goodrich told The News-Journal she is running for school board because school rankings are lacking and teacher pay is low.
In her opinion, there is “no excuse” for low teacher pay, and she believes schools can’t attract the “best and brightest” teachers if their salaries do not line up with the cost of living.
Goodrich said she is running largely on her financial background. She plans to advocate for Volusia teachers, exceptional student education students and mental health initiatives, to receive additional funding.
“If we don't have funding to add additional mental health professionals in the schools, we certainly have a community that's very, very active and very involved in trying to improve our area,” she said. “So let's pull from our business resources and see how those mental health specialists can help.”
While Goodrich does have a background in business, she said she doesn’t have much expertise in security; however, she recognizes the importance of school safety and is a strong proponent of the guardian program.
“One of the very first things I did when I decided to run is I went and attended the guardian training,” she said. “What I intend to do in any field that I don’t have as big of a background in, such as security, is to enlist the help of the people that know what they’re doing.”
Goodrich specifically said she would like to ask the sheriff and police departments what can be done to make schools safer as well as consult teachers and principals about what they are experiencing and what can be improved.
“I need their feedback to be able to say, ‘OK, let’s implement this, let’s add this,’” she said.
Goodrich supports families having choice.
When it comes to chaplains serving as school counselors, she said that should be left up to the parents.
“If your family feels that a chaplain is who’s the appropriate person to offer counseling for your child, then I’m a fan of liberty, and I think that you should have that option,” she said. “If you feel that the school counselor is who you want to counsel your child, I think you should have that option, too.”
And when it comes to choosing a school, Goodrich said she supports vouchers for charter schools, noting that she would never want to take away choice from a family. Students with disabilities might receive better services and accommodations in nontraditional school settings, she said, and gifted students might be able to thrive in specific programs that are only offered at certain schools.
However, Goodrich also recognizes that not all families can choose to attend non-public schools because transportation can serve as a barrier. Goodrich would like to advocate for additional public school funding through the state and business community.
Additionally, she would like to increase CTE (career and technical education) programs by partnering with local colleges.
“Let’s bring in some programs where they actually get certificates that they can leave with that are useful, working certificates,” Goodrich said. “Or give them additional college credits.”
She also finds it necessary to improve kindergarten through third-grade literacy rates.
“If we don’t have a baseline of strong literacy in our K-3 children — if you can’t read, it’s going to be very difficult to learn for the rest of your life,” she said.
By implementing these changes, Goodrich thinks Volusia County Schools will stand out as a top choice in the area; however, she doesn’t think any changes can feasibly be made overnight.
When it comes to determining what books should be in classrooms, Goodrich said texts should be age-appropriate and diversity in literature is “absolutely” necessary.
“We have a process set in place of how to review the books and what’s allowed and not allowed based on the age of the school children,” she said. “I think we’ve just got to get back to the focus of giving our kids the best books possible. Our libraries are only a certain amount of square footage, so let’s choose the best books that are out there for the kids, for the age that’s appropriate for them.”
And when asked about artificial intelligence, Goodrich said using it is “not optional” at this point.
While she doesn’t want to see plagiarism in the classroom, she does believe there are ways to address it and use it to help students become more successful.
“There's so much brain development that goes into reading and writing, so I want our kids to be able to write,” Goodrich said. “But I also think it's here, and so we better start coming up with some policies to address it. We better go out into the world and learn about artificial intelligence, what we can do about it.”
Angela Kopnicky
Angela Kopnicky wants to ensure that all students receive a quality education as well as mental health counseling. She said she plans to work nonstop to ensure Volusia County Schools improves its overall reading and math scores. As a school board candidate, Kopnicky's top priorities are: Returning the focus to a classical education; safety; parental rights.
Angela Kopnicky, 47, is a national accounts manager for Kendal Signs. She defined herself as a committeewoman and a poll watcher and also noted that she is a member of the Republican Executive Committee of Volusia County.
She told The News-Journal that she has four children, all of whom graduated from Volusia County Schools as well as three young grandchildren who keep her motivated and “fighting.”
She said she has been in Volusia County for almost two decades and has sat on the district advisory council since 2012, either as the chair or vice chair. Additionally, she said she has been part of the superintendent search, the Teacher of the Year committee, and the school calendar committee as well as a former Parent-Teacher Association president at Sweetwater Elementary and former Parent-Teacher Association vice president at Horizon Elementary.
“I’ve been working in Volusia County for the past 18 years, so this is not something that I just got a wild hair (for),” she said. “No. I know the issues. I’ve been around.”
Kopnicky is concerned about the state of public education, and she wants to see change.
“I feel like we’re in business to just graduate kids and not educate them first. I think we’re graduating students whether or not they can read or write. … We need to get back to why we’re in business, and we’re in business to educate kids.”
Making curriculum changes is a top priority for Kopnicky. She wants schools to teach classical education.
Kopnicky said classical education consists of three parts. The first is grammar, which would be taught to elementary students. Once students reach middle school, they would then be taught logic, which is the second component.
“That’s when they start asking you, ‘Why this, why that?,’” she said. “Why? Why? Why?”
Once students are in high school, she said, they would learn rhetoric.
“That’s when they begin to take a stance on things,” she said.
“If we go back to teaching that way,” Kopnicky continued, “I think a lot of the issues that we’re having will be eliminated.”
Kopnicky said students should “go back to reading, writing and using books.”
She believes that “sexual books” should not be in schools, but otherwise, when asked about book banning, she said she is “not focused on the books” because there are bigger issues at play.
“Until you remove a cellphone from a child, the books are irrelevant because a kid can access anything that they want on a cellphone,” she said.
Kopnicky told The News-Journal that artificial intelligence should have “zero” role in the classroom.
“I know it’s there. I know a lot of people are using it. But at the same time, we go to school to learn, to educate and I don’t think that it’s educating our children,” she said. “I think it’s dumbing down the system.”
To avoid student exposure and potential use of AI, Kopnicky suggested that everything should be handwritten in the classroom.
“No electronics at all,” she said. “I think we should go back to pencil and paper. … You can’t tell a child to do something on a computer because, again, they will be tempted to use AI or whatever, as it’s out there.”
Kopnicky believes school choice is a “great option” for families because education is “not one size fits all.” Additionally, she said it can “mitigate a lot of the anger (and) the bad publicity” from upset families in the district.
However, she also believes making previously mentioned curriculum changes and having passionate teachers in the classroom will help Volusia County Schools stand out as a top choice in the area.
When it comes to teacher recruitment and retention, Kopnicky said teachers cannot be “micromanaged” and that they should make more money because their jobs are so demanding. She also thinks teachers should be paid more based on their experience.
Kopnicky said it would be “crossing the line” to take action in assisting teachers and district employees in achieving high quality mental health.
“They’re an adult,” she said. “If they need help, we’re there for them, if they need to take a leave or something like that, but to come up for them to have something, I think that’s crossing the line because we’re actually there to educate our students.”
Kopnicky, however, believes students do need support. She said she personally would like to build relationships with AdventHealth or Halifax Health to see if they could potentially help students through an after-school program. She would also like to see more guidance counselors assisting students.
As a Christian, Kopnicky said she “loves” the idea of chaplains serving as counselors in schools because it aligns with her Christian beliefs.
“You’re going to get some pushback from some parents, but, you know, let them sign a waiver stating that they prefer their child to see a regular counselor versus a chaplain, but I think that’s something our school needs,” she said.
“I think we should still be able to say a prayer in school on a daily basis,” she added.
And to increase school safety, Kopnicky said she would also like to see each high school have two school resource officers and flashing pedestrian signs at every crosswalk for students to push before crossing the street.
“You just can't look at safety from an active shooter standpoint. You have to look at safety from a whole broad perspective,” she said.
