Extracurricular welcomes a dear friend—and Steph’s former campaign manager—Scott Hottenstein. Scott is a former teacher, former candidate, public education advocate and now campaign manager & consultant. With all those hats, we let Scott walk us through why public education matters (9:44). That leads into a deep discussion on public education funding, why it’s so paltry here in Florida, and why it matters so much (16:50). We then bring some threads together to reemphasize the power of public education in our politics and how candidates should be fighting for schools on the campaign trail (38:07). Finally, Eddie gets the goods and asks Scott about Stephanie Vanos the candidate versus Board Member Vanos (42:37).

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Eddie and Steph open the episode chatting about the entry into their video era. They then welcome local senior policy advisor, Rachael Kobb from Central Florida Public Affairs, to the pod. Rachael works with some of Orlando's great leaders, and she shares how she worked her way up from a secretary at Orlando Health to representing many clients in Orange County in a wide variety of ways (13:55). She talks about a lobbyist's relationship with elected officials and the implications of term limits (20:15), and shares what a day in her life looks like (23:10). We discuss the power dynamics in Tallahassee as well as implications to local communities when federal funding and programs retract (28:00). We round out the episode with Rachael sharing what she wants you to know, meaningful advice we've received, and her fire take (36:48).

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In front of the camera lens for the first time during this show, Eddie and Steph open the pod talking about their week including their takes on the Netflix show, Adolescence (spoiler alert at 15:30-22:00). They get into the podcast and Steph shares her mid-season/mid-year progress report as a new School Board Member (22:00). They discuss highlights from the first few months (25:07) and Steph shares her perspectives on what she has learned (30:50). They then discuss her areas of focus in the upcoming school year and her hope for parents (34:28). Finally, Eddie admits he’s been influenced and shares his newfound perspective on public education (42:50).

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