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Superintendent promises to keep schools competitive
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Calling it a new era of competition with charter, private and home schools, Hillsborough superintendent Earl Lennard pledged Monday to fight to keep students engaged and enrolled in public schools. "If compete we must, compete we will," Lennard proclaimed at his annual back-to-school news conference at the district's administration building. The news conference included dozens of teachers of the year and set the stage for the new school year beginning Wednesday. "We need to ensure that when people think of Hillsborough County, they think of Hillsborough County as being progressive," he said. So how does the Hillsborough school system plan to compete? Lennard said the district will focus on "unwavering" academic achievement and personal attention to students and teachers. He hopes a new logo -- large block letters reading SDHC for School District Hillsborough County -- will better market the district, the nation's 11th largest. Keeping students is critical to the district, Lennard said. The loss of students to charter, private and home schools means less state funding for the district. Lennard said that as students leave and revenues drop, the district doesn't receive a reciprocal drop in operating costs. He estimated that the students who have used vouchers to leave the district for charter and private schools have cost the school system $26-million, "almost enough to build one new high school." Lennard noted that more than 700 parents have said they will enroll their disabled children in private schools this year using state vouchers through the 2-year-old McKay Scholarship Program. The district has also seen the number of home-schooled students climb to 1,639 last year, from only 524 in 1994. Charter school enrollment is also rising. Last year, 2,500 students attended 16 state-funded charter schools in Hillsborough. This year, the district estimates the number will grow to 3,000. One new charter school, the Richard Milburn Academy, opens Wednesday. "Parents now will be able to choose alternatives to where their child is educated," Lennard said. "That means Hillsborough County public school has to be, has to be the school of choice." In the next month, district officials plan to survey parents who have enrolled their children elsewhere. The goal: find out why they bypass local public schools. Lennard also stressed strides to reduce crowding and improve failing schools. Since 1996, the number of critically crowded schools -- those at or above 120 percent of capacity -- have dropped from 53 to 14. The space crunch is improving primarily because of new and renovated schools. The nine new schools opening this year are: Bryant Elementary in Keystone, Cimino Elementary in Valrico and Ippolito Elementary in Riverview; Farnell Middle in Keystone, Liberty in New Tampa and Martinez Middle in Lutz; Freedom High in New Tampa and Middleton High in Tampa; and the South County Career Center in Ruskin. Lennard highlighted some of the changes planned for the four schools with F grades -- Oak Park, Robles, Shaw and Lockhart elementary schools. If those schools receive a second F grade from the state this year, students will be eligible for vouchers to attend private schools. But Lennard said it will not come to that. He recently made good on a 1999 pledge to take a 5 percent pay cut if any of his schools ever received an F grade. He makes $178,850 annually and is donating $8,942.50 to the Hillsborough Education Foundation. "I vow to you, those schools will move up at least one letter grade this year," said Lennard. "We will provide and make sure that all resources necessary (are used) to make that happen." -- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com.
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