Happy Memorial Day! 2 awesome guests lined up, today as guests on Viewpoint With Seeta and Friends AM 1510 WWBC . WE are heard on AM1510, FM94.7, FM 99.9 and FM 100.7 as well as online everywhere on WWBC . We will chat with Jennifer Jenkins Education leader, school board member, who launched the ‘EDUCATED. WE STAND’, a National Counter-Offensive to Far-Right’s Attack on Public Education. We are also joined in studio, by author Dolores Batten, about her books “The Heart Wants What It Wants” Tune in at 1PM until 2PM. At end of every day, we all want to be loved, and appreciated.
Delores Batten, Author
Conquer darkness and ego-driven thoughts by embracing faith, hope, and a deep commitment to a greater purpose founded upon love.
This autobiography is particularly significant as it explores open-mindedness, non-traditional love, and caters to various niches such as coming-of-age, LGBTQIA+, twin flames, spiritualists, and those who dedicate themselves to serving God, regardless of their background or the trials they encounter in life.
As a college Professor and a PhD Candidate, I have triumphed over seemingly insurmountable obstacles and been blessed with the ability to empathize with people from all walks of life, embracing diversity. I have learned how to apply my knowledge by experiencing life firsthand, rather than merely preaching about it. With a personal objective to align my perspective with a higher power, I am confident that this book accomplishes that goal, gradually guiding readers through the many challenges life presents and offering insights on viewing them through the lens of unconditional love.
“I strongly believe that personal experiences are the most powerful tools we possess to navigate and understand the world.” – D.M. Batten
Jennifer Jenkins
Jennifer is an educator, wife of a teacher, and mother to a daughter of the next generation of students.
Born and raised in Staten Island, NY, she had the privilege of relocating to Brevard County when her father retired from a career in law enforcement. It would then become her permanent residence after she met her future husband while attending education courses at Brevard Community College.
Jennifer received her master’s degree from the University of Central Florida in 2014. Her desire to work with young children and early intervention influenced her decision to begin her career with Brevard Public Schools. She was fortunate to serve the students at Harbor City Elementary and is currently in her sixth year as a Speech Language Pathologist with Pre-K Exceptional Student Education services.
She works additionally with a government agency, servicing children under the age of three who have or are at risk for developmental disabilities or delays. She works collaboratively with families and caregivers to support language development in daily routines.
Jennifer is invested in public education both professionally and personally. Her husband is in his ninth year as a secondary history teacher in Brevard Public Schools. Their three year old daughter, Olive, will soon be entering public education in the 2020 school year. She currently resides in Satellite Beach with her husband, daughter, two dogs, and cat.
Educated We Stand: Credit: (Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com . X: @_ finchwalk)
Jenkins fights back with ‘Educated We Stand’ Advocacy group aims to blunt ‘far-right school takeovers’
Almost exactly a year ago, Brevard school board member Jennifer Jenkins was pushed out of the area she represents when the board voted to redistrict. Though the lone Democrat on Brevard’s school board has always said she didn’t plan to run again, the move made it so she couldn’t change her mind if she wanted to.
But Jenkins showed this week she’s not done with politics yet. Though her time in her District 3 seat will come to an end this November, she’s already launched a new venture aimed at bringing change to school boards around the country: Educated We Stand, a political advocacy organization with the goal of “blunting the progress of far-right school takeovers,” according to its website.
Numerous things went into inspiring her to create the organization. One of those, she said, was seeing the impact of Moms for Liberty around the country after she, as a first-time candidate, unseated the group’s co-founder, Tina Descovich, in 2020.
“When I would go around speaking over the past three years … I always say, ‘I defeated the founder of Moms for Liberty,’” she said. “Everybody claps, and then I always stop them and I just say, ‘Well, yeah, I’m really sorry about that …because I gave her some free time on her hands. So I feel some responsibility to do something about it.”
With Educated We Stand, which Jenkins launched Thursday, she hopes to give some power back to communities that don’t feel represented by their school boards, especially in states that experienced a “conservative school board takeover” by Moms for Liberty endorsed candidates in 2022 and 2023.
“(We’ll look at) places and spaces where it’s critical that we either retain or regain some balance on those boards in order for them to be representative of the actual communities that they’re serving,” Jenkins said.
Though she doesn’t have specific candidates in mind yet, she said she’ll be targeting seats of current board members in Florida who have pledged allegiance to Gov. Ron DeSantis and shown support for his current education agenda. She also wants to focus on boards with a far-right majority.
The project, chaired by Jenkins with a team of eight other people, has been months in the making.
Though she didn’t give a specific number as to how many people have donated or how much money the independent expenditure committee is working with, she said they’ve received a “generous amount of seed money” from donors who care “deeply about our cause and have well-positioned” them to launch the organization.
Jenkins said it became apparent that she needed to find a new way to advocate for public education when the redistricting took place in May of last year. At first, she considered running for the U.S. Senate, but ultimately opted not to amidst the passing of her mother and after Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former U.S. representative, launched her campaign for Senate.
“It would have been a really significant uphill battle to gain some statewide recognition,” Jenkins said.
Though she opted not to run for Senate, the conversations she had as she considered it are a huge part of what led her to launching Educated We Stand, she said. Jenkins described how she felt heard and validated in both her experiences as a school board member who has been harassed for her support of LGBTQ students and mask mandates during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in what she’s seen the county undergo as new members of the board were elected and made it a supermajority conservative. But it was a “double-edged sword,” she said.
“I started to realize no one is saving us, there isn’t really a plan in place and that scares me,” she said. “That’s when I decided I need to step up, and I need to be a part of the solution. I can’t just walk away and hope that some other organization or some other person nationally is going to take this on.”
She said it’s her hope that she can be part of the solution.
“I think that there needs to be an umbrella overall that’s willing to kind of support candidates across the nation, across the state of Florida (and) support legislators that are already in office who are struggling with messaging,” Jenkins said.