School Board of Sarasota County Elects New Chair and Vice Chair

 SARASOTA – The School Board of Sarasota County elected Jane Goodwin as chairwoman and Shirley Brown as vice chairwoman for the next 12 months. Chairmanship of the board rotates each November among the five members.

The decisions were made at the School Board’s annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 20), held before the regular twice-monthly meeting. At the meeting, School Board members Caroline Zucker and Frank Kovach, who were reelected unopposed in June, were sworn in for new four-year terms by Judge Lee Haworth of the 12^th Judicial Circuit Court.

Goodwin was elected to the School Board of Sarasota County in August 2010 and began serving in November of that year. She began her professional career as a high school teacher. She spent more than 20 years as a marketing representative for IBM, specializing in serving K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions. After moving to Venice in 1998, she joined the Sarasota Family YMCA as the director of Marketing and Community Relations. Goodwin was executive vice president of the Sarasota Home Builders Association in 2008-09.

She is a community volunteer leader in various organizations. She was active in Citizens for Better Schools (CBS) in 2002 and 2006, when that organization spearheaded successful voter campaigns for a referendum on an additional 1-mill property tax for schools. She chaired CBS in 2010, leading to 66-percent voter approval of the continuation of the levy.

Goodwin chairs the Oversight Committee for Any Given Child in Sarasota, a partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and local arts organizations to expand the range of arts education for students in grades K-8. She also serves on the YMCA Metropolitan Board of Directors and chairs the board of the Evalyn Sadlier Jones Branch of the Sarasota Family YMCA. She mentors an eighth-grade student through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast. Her two grandchildren attend Gulf Gate Elementary School in Sarasota. 

Vice Chairwoman Shirley Brown was elected to the School Board in November 2006. She served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1992 to 2000, representing District 69 as a Democrat.