Helping kids find success

School superintendent Earl Lennard is truly a Florida product: graduate of Brandon High, member of the University of South Florida's first graduating class and former Ruskin Elementary teacher. As such, he believes he's uniquely qualified to guide the nation's 10th largest school district.

Over lunch at Red Lobster -- he had popcorn shrimp and I had the outer banks sampler -- we talked about those humble beginnings, the fun aspects of his job and "the board of education."

Pull up a chair and join us.

Ernest: Let me get this straight: the state just called to say you will have a budget shortfall. Kids are anguishing over high-stakes testing, the class-size amendment is going to be a bear and a bunch of Durant parents are mad their kids will have to transfer to Newsome next year. Is there anything fun about your job?

Earl: The fun thing is visiting schools and meeting with kids. Let me give you an example. Last week, I met with the student press from the newspapers from around the county at Brandon High. The student journalists come and we hold a press conference. To me, when you're fully engaged with students, creating that teachable moment, it's fun. I tell you what, these youngsters are tough. They know when you're blowing smoke.

The other issues? I think those are issues that somebody would have to deal with, and better someone (like me) who still has that student focus, who still appreciates what teachers do for students. Somebody who still appreciates custodians, school nutrition workers.

What was the toughest question you got from the kids?

I think the toughest question was what are we going to do with kids who don't pass the senior competency portion of the FCAT. You have youngsters who have gone through 12 or 13 years of school and now you're telling them "you can get a certificate of completion but you don't get a diploma." Some of these kids are very bright kids that have made grades and SAT scores high enough to receive Bright Future Scholarships. It's a state issue and not a district issue, but there should be a recognition that some youngsters can't take tests, yet they're very bright.

Years ago when we had a student forum, they asked questions that were personal. Why can't we have more senior privileges? Why can't we have more parking places? Today's questions are more focused on the realities that are occuring in their life. The questions are more about resources. What are you going to do to help me prepare to make a living and become part of the American dream? To me, it's a paradigm swing from what are you going to do for me to how can we better society and how do you use your office to do that? That's what the late '50s and '60s were about.

You graduated from Brandon in 1960 and USF in 1963. Are we getting back to those days?

You hear about family values. They have been at times so politicized that it diminishes the credibility of the term. But I think we are looking more and more toward what we can do to improve society today. Everything we're doing as far as student reform is looking at some of those youngsters who have been excluded from enjoying the American dream. I don't mean just color, I'm talking about socioeconomics in general.

I was one of those youngsters who did not have a lot of those opportunities. I guess I would be one of those at-risk kids (today), but I was fortunate to have a great, great group of teachers at Brandon High, Palm River Elementary and DeSoto Elementary. They did a good job of giving me an academic background I could use to improve myself. Hard work and education equals success. I think that's still true today.

So if you had to choose between talking to five angry parents or walking across hot coals, which would you choose?

If I had my brogans on, I'd take walking across the hot coals. (laughs).

When you're dealing with parents, you're dealing with someone who is looking out for their youngster. It's just like that saying about don't get between a mother bear and a cub. I try as much as possible to ensure I'm open and available to parents when there are issues. I can't resolve all those issues on my own, but we have staff and we have principals who can. I answer my calls myself. I even take them home and and call from home late in the afternoon or early in the morning. That personal touch is important to me.

You grew up on a farm and you used to be in charge of the county's FFA. Isn't that a pretty big step from being superintendent?

Yes, I was the supervisor of vocational agriculture, which included the Future Farmers of America. Well, I actualy started out teaching fifth grade at Ruskin Elementary School in 1963. But you know Fred Gainous, the new president of Florida A&M, was an ag teacher. People think, "Well, you taught agriculture, you're a farmer," that there's something less there. But they don't remember your first scientists, weathermen, environmentalists were all farmers. Your animal husbandry people? Physiologists? All farmers, because they had to know all these things.

Tell me about being a member of the charter class at USF?

I got my degree in three years. I wanted to get off the farm, I wanted to get an education. In those days, tuition was $90 a semester, 12 hours or more. But there was no limit to the number of hours you could get. You could get 12, 15 or 18 for 90 bucks. Ninety dollars a semester, ain't that a trip? Now a single credit hour cost more than that.

In those days, University of South Florida was so small the professors ate in the same building as the students, so you were able to create some dialogue. How many professors actually eat their lunch in the dining hall where students are so that you can sit at a table like we are and talk about life, talk about what's going on -- talk about the civil rights movement, which was a big thing when I came up. Talk about how we were going to change the world, talk about how we were going to make things like they should be.

But you had your sights set on being a lawyer before turning to teaching?

I was only going to teach until I got enough money to go to law school, but I just liked it. I just stayed with it. Once I started, I knew I had found my calling, found my niche.

Do you think we should still have corporal punishment? The paddle?

There was a time in my day and your day probably when the "board of education" was appropriate and had a place. I can remember right here at Brandon High, I became acquainted with the "board of education."

What happened?

Jerry Jackson was our coach, and when you didn't dress out for PE you got a lick. There was a time in drafting whenever you dropped a T-square, you got a lick. And there was a time on a different circumstance, I was caught a little truant and the assistant principal, Jim Randall, gave me a couple of licks to remind me I was supposed to be in class on time and not wandering the halls.

We talked about how Brandon has changed and how schools are no longer the focal point for kids. But what's stayed the same about Brandon?

One thing about Brandon, it has retained the love. The caring of the community is still here. Even thought it's grown and grown and we complain about the traffic, it's still a great area. Unless you're here, you don't know it.

DESSERT:

A postscript from Ernest

Earl Lennard grew up on a farm south of Brandon and now lives on the Alafia River. He had a couple of cows on his property until recent years, and he worked the ring at the Strawberry Festival's swine sale last week. Rumor has it he kissed a pig. Lennard, 60, also relishes the opportunities he's had to visit Harvard, and likes to listen to the "real Hank Williams."

-- Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State section of the St. Petersburg Times. Lunch With Ernest is edited for brevity and clarity. To suggest lunch partners, call Ernest at 226-3406 or e-mail hooper@sptimes.com .