Diana Moore and Susanne Peña are the candidates in the November School Board District 3 runoff. Moore is an OCPS elementary teacher and former teachers-union president; Peña is a former OCPS teacher and president of the Florida Association for Bilingual Education.orlandosentinel
by The Orlando Advocate Staff
The positions below come from published candidate questionnaire responses. Statements about district finances or performance remain the candidates’ claims unless separately verified.clickorlando
Issue Diana Moore Susanne Peña Main educational priorities Parental choice, teacher compensation, and student discipline. Proposes exit surveys to understand why families and teachers leave OCPS. Academic achievement, educator recruitment and retention, and strengthening public schools. Proposes expanded bilingual education, STEAM, and career pathways. clickorlando Teacher pay and working conditions Calls for professional salaries, budget scrutiny, greater teacher input, and changes to the Office of Professional Standards. Calls for competitive compensation, mentorship, professional development, career advancement, and supportive working conditions. clickorlando Multilingual students No comparably specific multilingual-learning proposal appears in the published response. Proposes a districtwide multilingual-learner strategy, expanded dual-language programs, stronger English-learner support, and educator training. clickorlando Reading achievement Questions the premise and supporting data in the questionnaire’s reading-performance question; does not provide a similarly specific literacy intervention plan in that answer. Supports evidence-based literacy instruction, science-of-reading training, early identification, and targeted intervention. clickorlando Discipline and safety Supports a school resource officer on every campus, stronger officer-student relationships, and stricter consequences for vaping and classroom disruption. Emphasizes physical security alongside threat assessment, mental-health services, bullying prevention, and early intervention. clickorlando Book challenges Supports continuing committee review but emphasizes individual parents’ choices rather than removing access for all students. Supports educator and librarian participation, transparent review, parent input, and decisions based on educational standards rather than political pressure. clickorlando Political and organizational support Says she has not sought endorsements and does not want voters to see her as beholden to a group or party. Lists support from the teachers union, multiple School Board members, Democratic elected officials, Equality Florida Action PAC, SPLC Action Fund, and other organizations. These are candidate-reported endorsements. clickorlando
Peña provides the more specific published proposals on multilingual access, literacy intervention, and preventive student supports. Moore provides a more confrontational critique of district management and more emphasis on discipline and internal accountability. Both advocate better teacher compensation; their approaches and specificity differ. clickorlando
Moore has been accused by parents, fellow teachers, and her bosses of being a toxic employee. She faced controversy as head of the local teachers union. The American Federation of Teachers removed her as the local teachers union President in 2015. She was accused of running a dysfunctional operation and stifling members’ rights. Moore downplays the criticisms, but voters should not be taken in. It’s time for a change.
The Advocate recommends Susanne Peña,
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