Kimberly Clement, the Seminole Tribe’s 4-H special projects coordinator, wanted to be more involved in her third-grade son’s school district, so she ran for a school board seat and won. Clement received 57% of the vote at an Aug. 23 election to be the District 4 representative on the Glades County School Board.

“I wasn’t fully educated on what was going on in the district, but when the seat became available I decided to take a stance and run,” Clement said.

She’s set to be sworn in Nov. 22 for the start of a four-year term.

The Glades County School District is comprised of Moore Haven Elementary School, Moore Haven Middle-High School and West Glades School. It serves about 1,650 students.

Clement said her goal is to learn about the needs of everyone served by the board, not just her District 4 constituents, and make sure their viewpoints are acknowledged. She said too many people expect to be able to get things changed through social media.

“That’s not how to get things done,” Clement said. “So many people want to be heard, but they don’t know the right chain of command to follow to get their voices heard. I will do whatever I have to do to fight for our small county. We have amazing kids who excel so much after graduation. We want to give them the stepping stone to higher education so they can make their goals come true. That fueled my fire so much.”

Clement lives in Palmdale with her husband Russell and sons Corbin, 8, who is a third grader at West Glades School, and Caine, 1.