As a mother, Melody respects the role of parents in the education of their children. School choice is of unquestionable importance, and Melody is an active and unapologetic voice for parental rights. She supports parent decisions to home-school or to choose a charter, private, or magnet school, but Melody also believes Jacksonville families should have the choice of an excellent neighborhood public school. She will support policies that will make Duval County Public Schools a more competitive and attractive option to parents, teachers, and students.

Melody supports the teaching of American history with an emphasis on the nation’s founding principles, our Constitution, rule of law, and civic responsibility. She will fight for our shared values and oppose any efforts to allow our children to be used for social experiments. Melody also believes in applying practical and achievable solutions to problems and knows we must teach our students the importance of personal responsibility.

Safety is the number one priority. Duval County needs a School Board that will enact policies that hold bad actors responsible for their behaviors. Melody will actively work toward transparency and accountability; any incident must be properly documented and reported. Melody commits to actively partner with law enforcement to increase student and teacher safety in Duval County’s public schools.

Melody spent years in the trenches and recognizes that teachers are working in an increasingly hostile environment. We must improve the working environment and conditions for our teachers and support them in putting a stop to repetitive classroom disruptions so they can put their energy where it is needed- the actual work of teaching. Many responsibilities that have been placed on teachers are not directly related to student learning. Teachers need quality resources and the freedom to use their skills and talents to meet student needs and to guide each child toward success and a love of learning.

We must continue to offer more divergent outcomes for students by continuing to expand career and technical pathways to prepare students for the work force. While we should continue to encourage students toward higher learning, many students will choose not to attend a college or university.  Providing more opportunities for students to receive hands-on training and preparation for specific skills in fields that are growing in Jacksonville (e.g. Transportation and Logistics) are very valuable opportunities for our students and helpful to our city’s economy.

Melody was raised in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville by supportive parents who placed a high value on education. Melody attended Beauclerc Elementary School, and then her parents took advantage of school choice and sent her to St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Mandarin. She graduated high school with honors from Bishop Kenny and earned the Florida Merit Scholarship. Melody dreamed of becoming a teacher from childhood and chose the University of North Florida due to the known strength of their College of Education. Melody graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Florida in 2000. She took her first teaching job at Wolfson High School and continued to work within the public school system until 2014.

Melody will soon celebrate 18 years of marriage to her best friend from high school, and is proud mother to two beautiful, spirited, and brilliant teenage girls. Melody is an active member of her local church where she has served for 15 years; first serving as worship leader and later becoming children’s ministry director and has served in that capacity for the last 10 years. She is in the process of publishing her first children’s book and is completing the last requirements for her doctorate.