MDC Trustee Wins Seat On Miami-Dade County School Board
Roberto Alonso, who has served on the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees for the past two years, was elected as the new Miami-Dade County School Board representative for District 4 on Aug. 23.
“I’d like to thank the community,” Alonso said. “I look forward to being a steward for our schools and being able to provide educational excellence to all our students.”
He will represent Miami Lakes, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens during the monthly-held school board meetings in Downtown Miami.
Alonso, who ran on a platform centered on conservative values such as increasing parental rights in school curriculums and opposing Critical Race Theory, will help decide the county’s school district policies.
“I felt that it was time that we got back into it as parents and that we protected what was being taught to our students,” Alonso said.
His campaign also focused on improving security in schools, providing fair teacher salaries and securing more resources for students with special and mental health needs.
To garner support, Alonso and his volunteers knocked on thousands of doors and were engaged through his campaign’s Instagram account: @robertoalonsofl.
“I learned a lot of what it means to work hard during this campaign,” said Anthony Valenzuela, an Honors College alumn who managed Alonso’s social media campaign. “I’m just so grateful for this opportunity.”
Following a four-month campaign, the hard work paid off. Alonso defeated Maribel Balbin and Kevin Menendez after obtaining 14,970 votes, tallying 57 percent of the support.
Alonso will begin his four-year term on Nov. 22. He replaces Macki Perla Tabares Hantman, who announced in April that she would not seek reelection after 26 years on the board.
The 42-year-old entered the public service field in 2013, serving as the chair of the public safety committee at the town of Miami Lakes for three years. Since 2018, Alonso has served as a member of the Miami Association of Realtors and the Miami-Dade Planning Advisory Board.
In 1999, Alonso co-founded SchoolMint, a company that helps to automate administrative tasks in schools through software. He remained in the initiative for twenty years, serving his final four years as the company’s director of business development.
He is also a realtor at Costa Realtors Corporation and the founder and vice president of business development at Always At Your Side Adult Day Care. In 2014, he founded Miami Lakes Car for a Cure, an initiative that supports and fundraises cancer research through car shows.
Alonso earned an associate’s degree in computer and information sciences and support services from MDC in 2002. Two years later, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in business administration—with an emphasis on management information systems—from Florida International University.
“Roberto Alonso is the most genuine person you’ll ever meet,” Valenzuela said. “He not only cares about students, as we see at the College, but now he’s going to care about students in a much more prominent role.”
