Opinion: For a better school board

Over the next two months, parents and students in Pinellas County will choose public schools at the same time voters are choosing elected school officials. The connection is relevant.

The new choice plan is the most significant change in student assignment in three decades, and it will need careful attention from the elected School Board. Unfortunately, the plan was developed largely through secret negotiations by attorneys, and board members approved it without cost estimates or visible public support. But the transition to choice can still work successfully if board members are willing to keep an open mind and make adjustments as they may be necessary.

In the Sept. 10 primary, Pinellas voters will have the opportunity to select four of the board's seven members. The races are nonpartisan, and, though some require candidates to live in geographic districts, residents countywide get to vote in every race.

Linda Lerner -- District 2 (voted countywide)

The qualities that have helped Linda Lerner to make responsible votes on the School Board have also helped her get votes in three straight elections. Lerner, 59, trying for her fourth term, visits schools and listens to families and teachers.

Lerner is one of the board's most accessible members, which has kept her in closer touch with the needs of students and teachers. When students were being hurt by a rigid "zero tolerance" discipline policy that treated serious and less-serious offenses as though they were the same, Lerner argued for common sense. When a new choice assignment system left no room for neighborhood links to the schools, she argued for neighborhood zones. When the school attorney sent a secret memo arguing that board members should deny attendance permits for the children of some schoolteachers, Lerner asked that the business should be conducted in public. When the superintendent ignored recommendations from a citizens panel that monitors the desegregation court settlement, she called for cooperation and a joint meeting.

For 12 years, Lerner has made her voice heard. The problem is that it is often ignored. She has become so accustomed to being on the losing end of votes that she tends to answer questions about school policy as though she were an outsider: "They told me" or "This was the explanation I was given" or "I've asked about that."

Lerner's political ineffectiveness might be worth closer examination if she faced opponents who could match her dedication, experience and educational instincts. In this race, though, she faces: Michael Smith, a 21-year-old assistant grocery store manager who seems sincere but needs substantially more experience; Marc Wilson, 51, a physics teacher at Palm Harbor University High School whose campaign has lacked consistent focus; and Richard Bennett, 59, a retired DaimlerChrysler Corp. quality manager and former Dearborn Heights, Mich., school board member who moved to Pinellas 18 months ago and says he has played golf but "even that gets boring, believe it or not."

We recommend that voters give Lerner another term.

Janice Starling -- District 4 (voted countywide)

Tom Todd, a former educator and school superintendent, held this seat until his death two months ago. The woman who was appointed to replace him, day care center operator Janice Starling, has not had much time to prove herself as a board member. But that's okay. Her career of serving children speaks for itself.

Starling, 38, helps run Starling Day Care Center, a family business that has been a fixture in the south St. Petersburg community for three decades. To hear her talk about children, to see her flash a broad smile as she does, is to appreciate the role she could play on the board. She says early intervention is essential to assuring children succeed and that educators -- and day care providers -- should approach families and students with the same frame of mind: "I'm here to help."

In this race, Starling faces three viable opponents. Mary Brown, 66, is a quality improvement specialist for Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas County who has a commendable record of community involvement and ran a close race four years ago for a different board seat. Mike Pachik, 45, is a direct mail company co-owner who has become well-informed about school issues after seeing his own son subjected to the district's overzealous and inflexible discipline policies. Tiffany Todd, 24, a registered nurse at Tampa General Hospital, is the daughter of Tom Todd and county Commissioner Barbara Todd, and says she wants to follow in her father's footsteps. A fifth candidate in the race, Matthew Sullivan, appears motivated mainly by a grudge against a former principal.

Starling is new to the political arena. Since her appointment to the board, she has been thrust into the education debate and the world of campaigning. But her lack of political resume also causes her to stand out in this race. She brings life experience, daily contact with children and their families, and she promises to be an independent thinker. By contrast, Tiffany Todd seems to offer little more than her father's name and her mother's political connections.

In this race, Starling has a freshness and a love of children that is appealing. We recommend her.

Moses Holmes -- District 5 (voted countywide)

Nancy Bostock, 33, was elected four years ago portraying herself as a young mother who could understand the needs of fellow parents and their students. As a board member, she has been studious and has shown an understanding of the complex issues the district faces. What she hasn't seemed able to shake, though, are some of the rigid ideologies that characterized her past political activism.

In her first budget hearing, for example, the board was asked to approve the lowest property tax rate in eight years in a state that ranks 37th in education spending. The vote was 6 to 1, with Bostock the lone opponent. Her complaint: The tax rate wasn't low enough. As for the state's attempts to grade Pinellas public schools and give vouchers to students at schools judged to be failing, she consistently declines criticism and even asked the board at one point to denounce the district's long-held objections to vouchers. The board refused.

Bostock faces an opponent, Moses Holmes, 66, who has his own politically active past. Holmes is a former teacher who retired in 1998 as a lobbyist for the National Education Association and has represented teachers' unions in Broward County and Baltimore, Md. He says, correctly, that teachers need to be paid more if the district is to find qualified people at a time when teachers are in short supply. But he also has demonstrated as a candidate that he sees the broader view -- embracing the proper role of testing and accountability and admitting that some education goals, such as smaller class size, will cost more money. He is a forceful advocate for family involvement and for strict discipline.

Holmes graduated from Gibbs High School at a time when the student body was all African-American, and he is not eager to see it return that way. He believes the board needs a watchdog as the district moves beyond court-ordered busing, and he says the black community, including business people and churches, need to participate.

Holmes also asks a fair question of his opponent: Why would a board member who has fought to reduce taxes and voted to eliminate some educational programs be so willing to spend $50-million for school choice? Bostock has been such a believer in choice that she reflexively rejects all criticism. She pretends the projected $8.8-million in additional busing costs are "all related to education." She fought against expanded neighborhood zones and even opposed the broad exemptions for current families. (She now supports "grandfathering," saying, "it's grown on me.")

Bostock has worked hard at her job, but Holmes offers the promise of a more critical eye, and a more open mind, as the district moves to choice. We recommend him.

Mary Russell -- At Large

Voters in this race will find a classic political matchup: an established incumbent, fueled by a healthy campaign bank account, and an energetic newcomer who is ready to challenge the status quo.

Max Gessner, 63, is the incumbent, a retired school administrator who has been a steady force on the board, a strong supporter of the choice plan, a consistent vote to back administrative initiatives. Mary Russell, 31, is the challenger, a family literacy teacher who thinks the board has lost touch with the classroom and with parents, who questions whether choice will drain money from instruction.

Though Gessner has shown himself to be a hard-working board member, his campaign has offered some curiously revisionist messages. He tells voters, for example, "there has been a lack of common sense in applying" zero-tolerance discipline policies. Yet, as a board member, he has repeatedly supported the policies, insisting in a debate last year that "zero means zero." More notably, Gessner mailed a campaign flier to voters, pledging to "maximiz(e) parent involvement in the implementation of the choice plan, making sure any part of the plan that does not work be renegotiated." That's duplicity. As a board member, Gessner has repeatedly fought, usually with vigor, attempts by board members to consider serious changes to the plan.

Russell is new to politics, but her campaign message has shown remarkable clarity. She has offered constructive ideas about how to reduce the costs of choice -- making online applications available and adding more choice zones to limit transportation. She also notes, correctly, that many schools don't have the financial means to offer meaningful "attractor" programs. She wants strong curriculum-based instruction, more fundamental schools, a more cohesive policy about testing, and more latitude for teachers to mete out appropriate classroom discipline.

In this race, Russell offers the newer ideas and the greater willingness to confront the realities ahead. We recommend her.

In Hillsborough County

This election comes at a critical time for the Hillsborough County school system. The winners will, in the coming term, oversee the transition to a school-choice plan after 40 years of court-controlled desegregation. The board will institute new policies to improve academic achievement and better manage school growth, and members are under pressure to tighten controls over spending and to make the school administration more open and accountable.

School Board seats are nonpartisan and open to all voters within the district. District 4 includes east Hillsborough, and District 6 is countywide.

Jennifer Faliero -- District 4

Jennifer Faliero is a thoughtful and well-prepared candidate who could rebuild the board's credibility. Her straightforward approach, common sense and wide background in east Hillsborough civic affairs make her the strongest choice in District 4.

Faliero, 39, has served for years on school advisory councils, and her work with east county chambers of commerce and homeowner's groups adds depth to her campaign. She acknowledges more than any other candidate the challenges the district faces with its new school choice plan. She understands the importance of involving parents, and she has a concrete approach for improving the way the district spends billions of dollars. Faliero's agenda is one befitting a large and growing county. She also, more than her opponents, recognizes how to involve communities in their neighborhood schools. Her call to make the district more open and accountable is welcome and backed up by a workable plan to bring decisionmaking into the open.

Cliff Roberts, a 41-year-old engineer, makes a similar call for openness, but he lacks the specifics and record of community service Faliero would bring to the job. His candidacy, however, speaks to the sentiment for new blood on the board. John Werner, 60, and Larry Martin, 68, are retired district employees. Their knowledge of the mechanics of school operations would not add much to the board's mix.

Faliero has a rare combination of commitment, competence and energy. The Times recommends Jennifer Faliero to voters in District 4.

Carolyn Bricklemyer -- District 6 (voted countywide)

Carolyn Bricklemyer is a competent board member who could ably serve during this critical period. She is not as candid as she should be about the district's bureaucratic problems. But reform is only as promising as the candidate who brings it, and Bricklemyer's challengers, though well-intentioned, appear unsuited to the task.

Bricklemyer, 55, has eight years of service on the board. She has a long history of involvement in political, school and civic affairs, and the range of contacts and experience she brings is valuable to the district.

Bricklemyer is a stay-the-course candidate. She understands the need to move forward responsibly with school choice, and she recognizes the mistakes the district made in allowing charges of mismanagement to fester. Bricklemyer had a duty to follow through earlier on a whistle-blower's complaints. Her failure to do so gives us pause. But it is not sufficient reason to replace her on the board.

Melissa Hernandez, 35, a bilingual education teacher, strikes a resonant chord by calling for a new era of openness on the board. Hernandez has a fresh focus on student services and accountability, but her civic involvement and grasp of the issues does not compare to Bricklemyer's. Another challenger, Lynn A. Isaacson, 34, has not made a compelling case for her candidacy.

Bricklemyer is the solid choice in this race. The Times recommends her in the countywide race for District 6.

Opportunity to reply

The Times offers candidates not recommended by its Editorial Board an opportunity to reply. Candidates should send in their replies no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday to: Philip Gailey, editor of editorials, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. By e-mail: letters@sptimes.com. By fax: (727) 893-8675; Replies are limited to 250 words.

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