Why the first and only Latina on the Palm Beach County school board won't seek reelection

When Alexandria Ayala was elected in the fall of 2020, becoming the first Hispanic woman on the Palm Beach County School Board, school leaders were facing unprecedented obstacles during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The then superintendent, Donald Fennoy, resigned less than a year later over personal reasons amid challenges with the return to in-person classroom education. And controversial mask mandates in schools and other tough decisions made by school boards across the state had turned into political fodder.

“It was very challenging. It was stressful,” Ayala told WLRN. “We were learning as we went and trying to do the best that we could with the information we had that kept changing at any given month or moment.”