Three weeks remain before voters elect a new member to the Suwannee County School Board District 1.
Both candidates — Adam Hitt and Lesley Fry — were born and raised in Suwannee County.
Despite this similarity, each candidate has their own distinct experiences with working in the school system.
Adam Hitt, 43, leads in the polls and has two children in the Suwannee school system: a senior in high school and a seventh grader. His wife, Jennifer Hitt, teaches sixth grade math at Suwannee Middle School. His family's involvement in the school district made him more inclined to run for office, he said.
“I have an extra vested interest in what's going on in our school systems because everybody in my home is involved in our school systems,” Hitt said.
Currently, Hitt is a business owner for Hitt Pest Control and has thought about taking further action to ensure his availability as a School Board District 1 representative.
“I actually hired somebody in my company so that I could delegate part of my workload over to them," he said. “I hired a retiring teacher who had taught for 30 years, and she understands that the balance I'm going to need to be able to do both jobs."
He plans to bring his experience as a business owner to the role if elected.
Through his business, he said he dealt with policy and financial topics, skills that are also expected as a school board district representative.
Jerry Taylor, the current District 1 board member, endorsed Hitt and said he could use his experience as a business owner to benefit the school board.
“He owns his own business," Taylor, 74, said. "He understands about payroll, he understands about how the decisions you make affect folks financially. So, just for a myriad of reasons, I just feel like he’s the best person.”
Hitt plans to be there for the community's concerns both in and out of the school system, he said. He follows an open door policy, he said, by going to the residents' doorsteps and being a listening ear.
After communicating with residents, Hitt gives them his phone number to be their point of contact. When there's an issue, he said, he'll try his best to solve it.
“I've actually had a few people reach out to me through this process and said, 'Hey, this is something I'm struggling with at the school system, is it something you could help me with?'” Hitt said. “We’ve actually been able to kind of solve some of their problems, and I haven’t even been elected yet.”
Hitt also coaches soccer at Suwannee Middle School. He remembers telling his wife he was nervous before coaching his first game, he said. He said he's proud of his community and happy to lead a team for the county he was brought up in.
“There's nobody that can do this job like I can," he said. "I know after working and just spending time in the schools, going to these school board meetings, talking to people, I know in the bottom of my heart that I am the best person for this job."
Lesly Fry, 58, who is second in the polls, has worked with the Suwannee County School District for 30 years. She taught at all nine schools in the district in classes including kindergarten, second grade, third grade, fifth grade and sixth grade.
In 2008, Fry started an Accelerated Learning of Live Oak tutoring company, where she offers free tutoring services to students of the county school system.
She also co-wrote two times the 21st Century Learning Community grant, which provides $4 million for morning and after-school care for all four Suwannee elementary schools.
She started a garden club at Suwannee Middle School, which raised $2,500 for a beautification project that provided a landscape to the entrance of the school.
Fry takes pride in not only working for the school district, but also taking other initiatives and projects to help Suwannee County education thrive.
“I am passionate about after school care for students, recruitment for high quality teachers," she said. "I am persistent about a vocational initiative to expand our Career Technical Education, mental health, homelessness, graduation rate and Ready to Work Florida."
School board candidates will be on the general election ballot Nov. 5.
