DeSantis appoints a Lourdes Academy staffer to the Miami-Dade School Board
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Maria Bosque-Blanco will be the new Miami-Dade County School Board member, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday night.
Bosque-Blanco, 48, a guidance counselor at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, an all-girls Catholic school that’s part of the Archdiocese of Miami schools, will replace Lubby Navarro, the former vice chairperson, who stepped down Dec. 30 to comply with a new law that went into effect New Year’s Eve that barred elected officials from lobbying.
Navarro, who had been on the board since 2015, is a registered lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District, which includes the Memorial Healthcare System hospitals in south Broward. She earned $220,501 in her lobbying job in 2022, tallying her salary and bonus, according to Memorial. The annual salary for a Miami-Dade School Board member is $46,773.
Bosque-Blanco, an alumna of Miami Dade College and Barry University, serves on the Board of Trustees at Miami Dade College, one of the largest colleges in the country. Roberto Alonso, elected in November to represent District 4 on the School Board, also serves on the MDC board. DeSantis appointed Alonso to the MDC board in 2020 and endorsed him in his run for the School Board.
Bosque-Blanco’s appointment comes on the eve of the School Board’s first meeting of the calendar year, where the board is expected to vote on a new vice chair.
After the new board was sworn in following the Nov. 8 election, Navarro was elected vice chair in a 5-4 vote. Chairperson Mari Tere Rojas was elected in a 9-0 vote.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade School Board elects new chair, vice chair aligned with DeSantis, GOP
This is the second time the governor has appointed a Miami-Dade School Board member in the past few months.
In November, on the eve of the official swearing-in ceremony of four newly elected board members, the governor announced Dan Espino would replace outgoing board member Christi Fraga, who stepped down from her seat to successfully run for Doral mayor.
Like Espino, Bosque-Blanco will serve the remaining two years of Navarro’s term.
Bosque-Blanco’s appointment is the latest effort by the governor to influence school boards across the state.
CAST YOUR VOTE: Who are your heroes at Miami-Dade and Broward schools? Nominate them here
DeSantis allies on South Florida school boards
In Miami-Dade County, two other DeSantis allies joined the School Board this year: Alonso and Monica Colucci. The governor endorsed both in the August primary and November general election.
Alonso, a businessman, ran in the seat vacated by former longtime School Board chair Perla Tabares Hantman, who did not seek reelection. Colucci, a district teacher, defeated longtime incumbent Marta Pérez in a tight race for the District 8 seat.
The other two elected to the board were incumbents Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, who represents District 2, and Rojas, the board chair, who represents District 6.
In total, more than 30 school board candidates DeSantis endorsed won their elections.
READ MORE: DeSantis endorsed 30 school board candidates across Florida. They did very well
In Broward County, DeSantis in December appointed Daniel Foganholi to the School Board’s District 1 seat to replace Rodney “Rod” Velez, whom voters elected Nov. 8 but who can’t hold office because of his former criminal conviction. Foganholi, who led the effort to fire Broward Superintendent Vickie Cartwright in November, will be sworn in Wednesday to the Broward School Board.
Foganholi first sat on the Broward School Board from April to November, after DeSantis tapped him to fill the District 5 seat, vacated by board member Rosalind Osgood back in March. She stepped down to run successfully for the Florida Senate.
Foganholi could not run for the District 5 seat in the November election as he did not live in the district. (Appointees don’t have to live in the district, but those elected do.)
READ MORE: Broward School Board rescinds superintendent’s firing by DeSantis appointees
Last August, the governor appointed four new members to the Broward School Board as well, when he suspended four sitting members following a controversial grand jury report. Only one of those appointees remains, Torey Alston, who represents District 2.
At one point, the five-member majority installed by DeSantis fired the superintendent, only to have the newly elected board rescind that firing in December. Cartwright is now on a 90-day probationary period.
READ MORE: Broward School Board rescinds superintendent’s firing by DeSantis appointees
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Our Lady of Lourdes Academy was a private school. It’s a parochial school connected to the Archdiocese of Miami.
Miami Herald staff reporter Jimena Tavel contributed to this story.
