Konk Life Candidate Questionnaire: Dr Jim Doran for Monroe County School Board – District 4

Q. Let our readers know the reasons in general that you believe you would make the very best person to fulfill the position for which you are running.

A. I have been a successful teacher, principal & educational leader in Florida and internationally. There will not be an educator on the board unless I am elected.

Q. What specifically are the top four factors you believe qualify you over the assets of any other potential candidate?

  1. Five decades of educational experience, both in Florida and internationally, as a teacher and a school administrator from Pre-K through to the graduate level in university.

  2. Three degrees in education culminating with a doctorate in curriculum and instruction.

  3. A lifelong dedication to teaching and learning with a passion to bring the most appropriate and highest level of education to children and young people.

  4. A belief that human diversity is our greatest strength. A strength that we must embrace if we are to guide our civilization through difficult times so our children can inherit a world where they can live happy, fulfilling, and generous lives. That belief that was reinforced by years of living and working with wonderful people from across the globe.

Q. What is your personal view on the state of the nation in this year’s particularly interesting political season?

A. If we are to leave our children and grandchildren with a stable, healthy, and thriving civilization we must find common ground. “A nation divided against itself will not stand.”

Q. Given your personal awareness of governance in Southeast Florida, are you optimistic about relations between the public and the powers that be?

A.I am optimistic, but also realistic. Although there are outliers and extremists who grab the headlines, I believe that in general we all want similar outcomes. Unfortunately, too many people look at short term monetary gains and ignore or deny the long-term tragic consequences of the actions they support.

Q. Do you feel that the general tenor of political discourse is becoming less polite in Monroe County or staying about the same?

A. I have found the political discourse to be very polite at the local level.

Q. Tell us more about your personal history –- your work and family life –- and how they relate to your political ambitions.

A. My wife and I have two grown children who attended school both in the Keys and in international schools. My wife is also an educator who has taught at the elementary level and she has been a librarian and a media specialist in elementary school, middle school, high school and at the university level in Florida and abroad. Education has been a major part of both our professional and personal lives. We have lived and worked in schools in Europe, the Mid-East, Asia, and Central America. I would like to “Pay It Forward” by using my unique educational experiences, my years of study, my deep understanding of the education process at all levels, and my passion for teaching and learning to benefit the children of this special place that gave me my start.

Q. From your personal experience, would a generally peaceable outlook in the Keys depend upon a measure of control over the number of our visitors and residents?

A. This question has been plaguing the Keys since I moved here in 1971. There is limited land, limited resources and limited support services. To maintain a level of sanity and an environment that will still attract the visitors that we need for our economy, while supporting the residents of the Keys, we must find ways to “have our cake and eat it too”. That may mean limiting the number of visitors. How that would be accomplished has been debated for at least 50 years.

Q. What do you personally love most about Monroe County and the Florida Keys?

A. The marine environment and the residents that are attracted to its beauty and unique character.

Q. What troubles you the most about today’s Monroe County and the Florida Keys?

A. The inability for teachers and support staff to find housing that they can afford. To have consistently strong and caring schools we must be able to hire and retain the best teachers. Good teachers are the key to good schools. Nothing else even comes close. Unless our teachers can live comfortably, save for their children’s further education, and prepare for retirement Monroe County schools will always struggle to find and keep the best.

I am, and I have been for more than 40 years, concerned about the degradation of our marine environment. Not only as an ethical and moral concern, but as an economic one.

Q. What planning or political mistakes do you personally believe were the worst to be inflicted on the Keys over the past decade?

A. As to mistakes that hurt the financial future of the Monroe County School District I believe that the school board should not have voted to sell the Harris School in Key West to a developer.

Q. Who is your favorite character in the history of the keys?

A. Irving Eyster, I have enjoyed hearing him speak and reading his research and writings on the Keys, especially the Upper Keys, for many years. Although not really considered a historical figure himself, Irving’s research and writings brought Keys history to life for thousands of Keys residents.

Q. Who is your least favorite character?

A. I don’t have a least favorite character. Historical and living characters of the Keys all have brought their own special flavor to this unique and special archipelago.

Q. What is your favorite book?

A. 1776 by David McCullough

Q. What is your favorite movie?

A. The original Star Wars

Q. What is your favorite quote?

A. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.” Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare

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