Aide looked at as Hinesley heir

School Board member kick around the prospect of the deputy superintendent filling in until 2007.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 5, 2003

LARGO -- The search to replace retiring Pinellas schools superintendent Howard Hinesley should go no farther than the district's executive suite, several School Board members said Tuesday.

During a free-wheeling discussion that touched on the controversial school choice plan, School Board member Jane Gallucci surprised colleagues by suggesting that deputy superintendent John A. Stewart, 59, should replace Hinesley until 2007.

At that point the board should conduct a more comprehensive search for Hinesley's successor, she said. "I'm not saying that's forever. There will be a point where the district needs to look outside of itself for leadership. But I don't think we're at that point yet."

Hinesley, 55, is set to retire in November 2004.

Stewart, who has spent 35 years in Florida education, including three years with Pinellas schools, would be the best candidate to shepherd the district through the initial years of the choice plan, Gallucci said.

She predicted the controversy over the plan will have quieted by 2007, when racial quotas that now help decide school assignments will be dropped and students, in theory, will be left to integrate naturally.

School Board members Linda Lerner and Mary Brown disagreed, saying they favored a national search in which Stewart could apply. School Board member Lee Benjamin said he favored limiting the search to local applicants, but said it should be expanded to include area superintendents and even principals.

But Gallucci's idea resonated with School Board members Nancy Bostock and Mary Russell, and got limited support from board member Carol Cook, who said she would favor the idea if Stewart's qualifications matched what the public had in mind.

Said Russell: "What we have in front of us is a viable option to make the system thrive . . . You couldn't ask for more."

Much of the debate focused on when to expose a new chief executive to the uncertainties of the choice plan.

Brown said the most volatile time is now, as nearly 1,300 students who didn't get any of their chosen schools for next school year are being offered less desirable schools.

Bostock noted that 96 percent of Pinellas students will get into a school they selected. But Brown responded that a significant number of families are being hurt. "As we pat ourselves on the back," she said, "Let's get real."

Brown's rationale for pressing ahead now: The choice hubbub could be over when Hinesley's successor takes over next year and that person would have enough time to prepare the district for the end of the racial ratios in 2007.

Benjamin disagreed, saying that will be the plan's most volatile juncture. He also criticized Gallucci's idea, saying that limiting the search to a single candidate would be "a big mistake."

The board reached no decision Tuesday, deciding to first ask the public for opinions on the qualifications for a new superintendent.

A public hearing will be held at 6:30 p.m. May 13 at the district offices in Largo, and a letter inviting input will be sent to community groups, chambers of commerce and local governments.

Stewart said Tuesday he would accept the job if the board offered it, but wouldn't compete with other candidates. Over 35 years, he said, he has seen how elaborate executive searches can come down to a momentary impression.

"Because of that experience," he said, "I have chosen never to do that again."

The Pinellas schools superintendent leads what essentially is the county's largest corporation -- a behemoth with 18,000 employees and a $1.2-billion budget serving 147,000 students of all ages. Hiring the person who will run that organization next is perhaps the biggest decision the current board will make, members said.

Hinesley earns about $170,000.

The suggestion to fill the spot with Stewart is reminiscent of the School Board's decision on March 14, 1990, to hire Hinesley, who then was the top assistant to superintendent Scott Rose. That day, the board intended to launch a national search when a stunning turn in the discussion led to Hinesley's appointment.

Gallucci noted that Hinesley soon will be proposing painful cuts in next year's budget. Choosing Stewart would cut the district's costs, she said, "and show by role-modeling that we also are tightening our belts."

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