Who We Are
We are a group of passionate, practical, and informed advocates uniting to support strong public schools. Public Education Network Sarasota is a nonprofit organization that empower individuals and organizations to articulate and shape the future of public education in Sarasota County. Read more below to meet our Board of Directors and Advisory Council.
Jill Lewis-Spector, Ed.D.
Board Member, Chair
Dr. Jill Lewis-Spector resides in Sarasota, Florida, and serves as 1st Vice President for the League of Women Voters of Florida. She also chairs the Florida League's and the Sarasota League's Education Action Teams that track Florida's education legislation and advocate for adequate funding and high-quality standards, curriculum, assessment, and teachers in Florida's publicly funded schools, including public universities and colleges. Formerly of New Jersey, Jill is Professor Emerita of New Jersey City University. At this Hispanic-serving university, she taught Literacy Education courses to graduate and undergraduate students and directed the university's Public Policy and Urban Research Institute. She is the Past President of the International Literacy Association, a professional membership organization of more than 300,000 literacy educators, researchers, and experts across 128 countries. Jill has authored eight books and numerous research articles, and has been a keynote speaker on literacy policy and instruction throughout the United States and in more than 30 countries, where she has also worked extensively with various governmental agencies, advocating for better schools, democratic classrooms, and more resources for teachers.
Jill received her Ed.D. in Education Policy from Rutgers University, her M.A. degree, and Reading Specialist certification from George Washington University. She loves living in Sarasota with her husband, David, and their 15-year-old whippet, Sunny, who has learned to live alongside the deer, sandhill cranes and armadillos that regularly visit their property.
Pam Morey Hart, Ph.D.
Board Member, Secretary
Dr. Pam Hart is a lifelong resident of Sarasota, Florida. She and her sons graduated from Riverview High School. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Florida. Pam attained her Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of South Florida. Her educational career focused on K-12 education as a teacher and administrator, both as a high school and district administrator. Pam was the Director of H.E.A.R.T. Tutoring Center for 25 years. She worked with the Florida Department of Education as an evaluator of the Professional Development Evaluation System in various school districts in Florida. In addition to her educational career, Pam was co-owner of retail Hallmark stores and a licensed real estate agent. Pam is an active volunteer in the community. She has served as President of Altrusa Club of Business Women; Program Coordinator of PALS (Partnership and Alliances Linking Schools) at Gulf Gate Elementary; and later as President and Vice-President of TEAM UP Volunteer & Business Partnership with Sarasota Public Schools. She has also served as Board Chair and Personnel Chair in her church. She is a member of the Junior League of Sarasota which supports numerous community projects.
Pam currently serves on the Riverview High School Distinguished Alumni Board Hall of Fame, and is one of the founding members of PEN Sarasota (Public Education Network). As a retiree, Pam volunteers her time tutoring children, mentoring high school students, visiting her family and grandchildren in Virginia, and traveling to new destinations.
Nancy Swart
Board Member, Treasurer
Nancy Swart was born and raised in Nashville, TN, attended the University of Texas, and moved to Sarasota in 1982, where she met and married Ray Swart. They became the "Brady Bunch," raising their six children together. Four of the six children attended Sarasota public schools and received wonderful educations. She partnered with her husband in their contracting and real estate companies. Nancy serves as a financial manager for various trusts. She has served on the board of Temple Sinai as a vice president; chaired the design and construction of the current building of the Temple; is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Sarasota/Manatee; served on the Foundation and Hospital Boards of Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL; and currently serves on the finance of committee of Embracing Our Differences. She is actively involved in All Faiths Food Bank, Gulf Coast Foundation, and the Humane Society of Sarasota County. Nancy has experience in architecture and previously designed and built homes in Sarasota. She enjoys traveling in the family's RV and other types of travel. She also enjoys hiking, art and, most of all, visiting eight grandchildren in Colorado, Washington, DC, and North Carolina.
Shawn Bartelt
Board Member
Shawn Bartelt is currently the President of the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County. Before being elected President, Shawn was also First VP of the League of Women Voters of Florida and served on the state board for more than seven years. In her professional life, Shawn was in the television business for over 35 years. She started her career as a reporter for WXLT in Sarasota, which later became WWSB, and later transitioned to sales. She retired as General Manager of WFTV in Orlando. She has always been active on boards of nonprofits, including the United Way. Shawn is a Florida native, born in Key West. She grew up in Sarasota, where she attended public schools, including Sarasota High. Shawn graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in broadcast news. She and her spouse Beth have two kids and four dogs and split their time between Sarasota and Asheville, North Carolina.
Katrina Ward
Board Member
Katrina Ward is a retired Sarasota County public school educator who dedicated 32 years to serving the students and families of Sarasota County. Her professional career included serving as a teacher, school counselor, and a district level program specialist and administrator. Katrina supported K-12 school counselors and school-based principals with training on federal law, state statutes, and local School Board Policy, guidelines and procedures as they related to all K-12 students receiving a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). Katrina developed, coordinated and implemented various federal, state and local educational and scholarship programs/opportunities for K-students. She served as a mentor to counselors new to Sarasota County Schools and to college students pursuing a degree in the field of education through the Selby Scholarship Program. Katrina served as the supervisor of Sarasota County Schools’ Office of School Choice for the last 13 years of her professional career. She developed district guidelines and procedures to ensure all eligible K-12 students had equitable access to a wide range of state-mandated school choice options in accordance with federal and state statutes and Sarasota County School Board Policy. Katrina served as the primary liaison between Sarasota County Schools and school-board-sponsored public charter schools. She was responsible for coordinating and overseeing the state-mandated Charter School Application Process.
Katrina was born in Sarasota and grew up in Ithaca, New York. She graduated from Ithaca High School, and earned a Bachelor's of Science and a Masters of Art in Specific Learning Disability from the University of South Florida. She earned an Education Specialist Degree in School Counseling from the University of Florida. Katrina is a member of the Bradenton Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the Suncoast Women of Action, and the Sarasota Chapter of NAACP. Katrina is most proud of her 37 years of marriage to James E. Ward, a retired public school educator, their five children: Jewel, Judy, Jermaine, Jasmin and Jessika, and their eight beautiful grandchildren, all of whom received a stellar education in Sarasota County's public K-12 schools.
Carol Lerner
Board Member
Carol Lerner currently serves as a director of Support Our Schools, a Sarasota-based publiceducation advocacy nonprofit organization. She was born and lived most of her adult life in NewJersey where she raised her two daughters. She holds a MSW degree from the School of SocialPolicy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania and worked as a public education social workerin Philadelphia, New York City, and New Jersey. Later in her career, Carol worked as a programmanager, for a large regional special education district, developing one of the nation’s first,innovative transition programs for special education students graduating from high school. Inthis capacity, she served as a consultant to the New Jersey Department of Education, Office ofSpecial Education.
A lifelong peace and justice activist. Carol helped lead several statewide peace campaigns inNew Jersey and served on the board of directors of the Princeton Peace Action Coalition. Whenshe moved to Sarasota in 2015, she became concerned about the extreme privatization and otherattacks on public education occurring throughout Florida and established Protect Our PublicSchools Manasota to educate residents of Sarasota and Manatee on the dangers of this.
Carol is a prolific writer and researcher on school privatization and far-right attacks on education and writes for WSLR’s Critical Times and the Suncoast NEA-Retired newsletter. She has written extensive research reports on far-right attacks on Sarasota County Schools which have been utilized by leading national and international journalists. In her spare time, Carol enjoys walking in area parks, reading suspense novels, and traveling to interesting places.
Damaris Allen
Board Member
Damaris Allen is a product of Hillsborough County Public Schools and the proud mother of two HCPS graduates. She began her advocacy journey when she registered her oldest child for kindergarten and discovered her neighbors were opting out of sending their children to their neighborhood public school. Instead of pulling her child from the school, she decided to focus her efforts on working with parents, teachers, and administrators to improve the school. Today, this local elementary school is one of the most sought-after schools in the district. Damaris went on to serve in numerous roles, including but not limited to the president of Hillsborough County PTA/PTSA, Chair of the Hillsborough County School Board Citizens Advisory Committee, and a member of the Florida PTA Legislation Committee. She is also the Executive Director of Families for Strong Public Schools.
Prior to becoming a full-time education advocate she studied Christian Education and Theatre at Florida Southern College and worked with children, youth, and their families in the United Methodist Church. Her advocacy work has taught her to never underestimate the power of the collective voice to transform education.
In her free time, she is an avid reader of nonfiction, loves to bake for friends and family, and takes ballet classes whenever possible. Damaris is driven by the desire to help parents discover the power of their voice and empowering them to use them to create high-quality public schools for all children.
Prior to becoming a full-time education advocate she studied Christian Education and Theatre at Florida Southern College and worked with children, youth, and their families in the United Methodist Church. Her advocacy work has taught her to never underestimate the power of the collective voice to transform education.
In her free time, she is an avid reader of nonfiction, loves to bake for friends and family, and takes ballet classes whenever possible. Damaris is driven by the desire to help parents discover the power of their voice and empowering them to use them to create high-quality public schools for all children.
Board Member TBD
Board Member
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