Kyc: District 3 Pasco School Board

The race for the School Board's District 3 seat pits incumbent Cathi Martin against Leonard Trubia, who is making his second bid for the board. Trubia lost the Republican primary for the seat in 1998, the same year Martin won the job as a Democrat.

THE JOB
District 3 covers part of southwest Pasco County. School Board members are elected countywide but must live in the district they represent. The School Board sets policy, oversees the budget and makes the final rulings on student expulsions. Board members serve four-year terms and are paid an annual salary of $31,644.

The two face off Tuesday in a nonpartisan election that is open to all voters.

Martin, 47, said one of her main goals will be to improve the reading scores of high school and middle school students. Boosting teacher salaries and keeping teachers in the district after they're hired also are important issues that need to be addressed, Martin said.

"We have to offer them more training and help them stay up to date on new ideas," Martin said. "And we have to give them new technology."

Martin said she wants to find money to hire additional reading specialists for each high school. She said the district's latest round of test scores showed too many teenagers need extra help in that area. The district already has hired a literacy specialist and remedial reading teacher for middle and high schools this school year, but Martin said more needs to be done.

Martin wants to boost parental involvement in schools, perhaps by having parent workshops in conjunction with local businesses. The workshops could even be conducted at local companies to make it easier for parents to attend, she said.

Schools are safer today, Martin said, because of a new district safety officer who was hired from the Sheriff's Office, new crisis plans developed for each school and more resource officers in the elementaries.

Trubia, 66, said he is running because the board needs a member who is willing to ask tough questions. He said the board merely "rubber stamps" the proposals put forth by administrators. A local Realtor, Trubia said he will curtail his business to work on board matters full-time.

Trubia recalls fondly schools such as the old Richey Fundamental, where parents had to apply to enroll their children. He wants to bring those types of schools back. Much of Trubia's platform calls for turning back the clock: more vocational programs for kids who don't want to go to college, more emphasis on learning the basics and less focus on children's emotions and feelings, he said.

"We need to see if we can make those things work again," he said.

Trubia said the school district is adequately funded but that it doesn't spend its money wisely. The board needs to eliminate programs that don't work and put the money into other areas, such as teacher salaries.

He also said teachers need more supplies for the classroom and more support from administrators.

"The people who know best are the teachers," Trubia said. "If we don't communicate with them, then there's a break down in the system."

THE CANDIDATES

LEONARD M. TRUBIA, 66, is president of Coldwell Banker Action Reality in New Port Richey. He was born in Italy and moved to New York with his mother when he was 12. He and his wife moved to Florida in 1971. They have five children. Trubia is retired from the U.S. Post Office; and he once owned and operated La Fontana, an Italian restaurant in New Port Richey. He has an associate's degree from Pasco-Hernando Community College and is the vice chairman of the Pasco County Housing Authority. He is a member of the Holiday Kiwanis and the Holiday Rotary.

ASSETS: Trubia lists no assets on his financial disclosure form.

LIABILITIES: Three mortgages.

SOURCE OF INCOME: Business income, pension, Social Security.

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CATHI E. MARTIN, 47, has been a School Board member since 1998. Martin and her husband have lived in Pasco for 29 years and have three children. She is a certified dental assistant and is the business manager for her husband's dental practice. Before her election to the board, Martin coordinated a mentor program for the Pasco Education Foundation, was a PTA president and was chairwoman of Seven Springs Elementary's school advisory council. She is on the boards of directors for the Suncoast Family YMCA and the Salvation Army. She is the School Board's vice chairwoman and is in line to be chairwoman next year.

ASSETS: House, collectibles, cars, investments.

LIABILITIES: Mortgage, car loans.

SOURCE OF INCOME: School Board salary, husband's dental practice.