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SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VANSICKLERWEST TAMPA RACE: Two longtime educators, a health care clinic manager and a former politician with a blemished record vie for a long-held seat now open due to retirement.
Glen Barrington is stepping down from the West Tampa based School Board seat he has held for 16 years, and four candidates are vying to replace him.
Two are longtime educators, one is a health care clinic manager who lost her first bid for School Board eight years ago, and one is a former county commissioner who was jailed in the mid '80s for taking a bribe.
Clinic manager Susan Valdes, whose two youngest children attend public schools here, said her concerns include access to after school care, student obesity and lack of physical fitness, and the percentage of students who drop out of school or fail the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
"I think we need to try and find innovative ways to do things," Valdes said. "With my business background, I think I can be a great asset."
Joe Kotvas, the former county commissioner convicted in the '80s of taking a bribe during a rezoning dispute, said his experience in politics - while not always exemplary - can be a source of inspiration to students.
"I'm trying to show them no matter how bad things get, no matter how dark things get, you can turn your life around," he said.
He said if elected, he would emphasize the district's career and trade education to ensure that students who aren't college-bound have opportunities after high school.
Janice Torgersen recently retired after 35 years as an educator here and in Pinellas County. Having spent two decades working with Hillsborough's career education and dropout prevention programs, she considers those two areas a priority for the next District 1 School Board representative.
She cites several achievements as proof she is ready for the job, including the establishment of a program that keeps at-risk Hispanic youths in school through college and a grant-funded education program for adult refugees that has already helped 5,000 people.
She advocates putting a career center in District 1, where the heavily Hispanic population has a high dropout rate.
She also wants to improve how the district works with the county to plan the locations of schools, bus routes and sidewalks, and to work with the county to save money through innovations such as putting a county library on a school campus.
Velia Pedrero also spent 35 years in Hillsborough schools as a teacher and administrator. She had to retire this year because she participates in the Deferred Retirement Option Program, but said she's not ready to stop helping students.
"Having been so heavily involved in the school improvement process, working with the department of education, I really feel I am the candidate who understands this," said Pedrero, who is credited with helping raise Twin Lakes Elementary's state ranking from a D to an A while principal there.
Her focus would be ensuring new controlled-choice school plan works well.
The Hillsborough County Classroom Teachers Association has not endorsed anyone in District 1.
THE CANDIDATES
JOE KOTVAS, 61, is a radiology supervisor for Tampa General Hospital. His political career here began in 1972, when he became a Tampa City Council member. Eight years later he became a county commissioner. He was arrested in 1983 and sentenced to nearly five years in prison for taking a bribe in connection with a rezoning dispute. Kotvas' civil rights were restored after prison. He ran unsuccessfully for County Commission in 1996, and then for state representative in 1997. Kotvas is a widower with four children. His family is from West Tampa, and he grew up in New York and Tampa before making Tampa home in 1968. He attended Troy State University for a year in 1989. ASSETS: stocks and other investments, home. LIABILITIES: home mortgage, credit union, loan taken from personal IRA. SOURCE OF INCOME: TGH wages
VELIA PEDRERO, 56, retired this year as principal of Shaw Elementary School, ending a 35-year career as an educator. As principal of Twin Lakes Elementary, she was lauded for helping change the school's state ranking from a D to an A in 2000. Fluent in Spanish, she supervised district programs for students with limited English skills in the early '80s. Pedrero was born in West Tampa. She is married and has one daughter, who teaches at a local elementary school. Pedrero earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in education at the University of South Florida. ASSETS: home, rental property, life insurance annuities, IRA, bonds and savings. LIABILITIES: credit union. SOURCE OF INCOME: state retirement.
SUSAN VALDES, 39, is a health care clinic manager who has lived in Tampa since 1975. Born in New York City, she is married and has three children, including two sons in Hillsborough public schools. She has been involved with the PTA. She ran for School Board in 1996 but lost and ran unsuccessfully in 2002 as a Democrat against County Commissioner Jim Norman. She attended Hillsborough Community College. ASSETS: Home, two '90s-model Ford vans, resort time share. LIABILITIES: credit union, home mortgage loans, time share payment. SOURCE OF INCOME: clinic salary.
JANICE J. TORGERSEN, 66, is a retired Tampa Bay educator who works part-time as a consultant to the Hillsborough County School District. Torgersen, married with two grown sons, grew up in West Tampa and lives near Egypt Lake. She received a bachelor's degree in social science education and a master's degree in administration and supervision from USF. She also earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. She began her teaching career at Brandon High School in 1970. Over the last two decades, she worked with school-based dropout prevention programs and with the district's technical, career and adult education programs. She retired last August but remains a part-time consultant for CARIBE, the refugee assistance program. She was president of Hillsborough Technical, Career and Adult Educators and state president of Adult and Community Educators of Florida. ASSETS: Home, land, investments, bank account. LIABILITIES: car payment, credit union loan. SOURCE OF INCOME: retirement pension, part-time pay from school district, Social Security. WEB SITE: www.votetorgersen.com
THE JOB
The seven School Board members set policy for a system with more than 250 schools and 180,000 students. School Board races are nonpartisan, and members serve for four years. Five board members run in districts, with districts 6 and 7 elected countywide. The annual budget currently totals $2.36-billion. The job has an annual salary of $37,426.