School Board District 2
35 of 37 precincts reporting
Fred “Fel” Lee 20,819 56.7%
Theresa Graham 15,917 43.3%

Business principles beat out a focus on early education Tuesday with voters electing Fred “Fel” Lee to the Duval County School Board.

Lee, former vice mayor of Neptune Beach and business executive, defeated Realtor Theresa Graham in the runoff for the District 2 seat.

Graham said she wanted to focus on early education if she had she been elected to the board.

The District 2 seat was previously held by Nancy Broner, who left the board after eight years.

Lee said he was excited to join the School Board.

“It’s all still sinking in, it was a very tough race,” he said. “I had a great team that worked really hard, we celebrated tonight and now it’s time to do what we said we were going to do, which is to help our children.”

Lee said he will bring a business approach to the district. He said improving the district’s 65 percent graduation rate will be the first thing on his mind.

Lee made a point of saying that he’s experienced firsthand the trouble of hiring key personnel for his companies, because of people’s perception of Duval’s school system, which he said begins with the graduation rate.

“It directly impacts everything in Jacksonville,” he said. “Economic development, the ability to hire people, the education we need for things like our port, logistics, our crime rate. All of those things tie back to education.”

Lee joins Paula Wright, who won the District 4 seat, and Becki Couch, who won the District 6 seat, as new members to the seven-member board.

topher.sanders@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4169