DELTONA, Fla. -- Melody McSorley Johnson is as real as it gets as an elected politician on the Volusia County School Board.
And while the term politician often carries a negative connotation, in Johnson's case, she's been the difference maker.
Clearly, Johnson has shown herself to be an excellent policymaker, which is what members of the school board take an oath to do, but often get bogged down in education-speak where things get lost in translation between classroom performance. And even more telling in the often mutually-exclusive agendas of well-compensated senior administrators and the union talking heads who can never seem to get enough for the teachers.
Johnson, in fact, is so real, she openly wept at her first meeting four years ago, even as she and others moved quickly to push the longtime superintendent out the door without breaking the bank.
Johnson was part of that purge, but she wasn't plastic. She kept it real. And has been so consistently real in the nearly four years since -- minus the tears and with positive results.
Consider: