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The easy way to characterize the race for the School Board District 5 seat would be to call it a contest between an "insider" and an "outsider."
Certainly, there is an element of truth in that, but the labels obscure more fundamental differences between the two candidates.
Only in a school district that has been rocked by a scandal on the scale of the Homosassa Elementary School construction project would a candidate be expected to apologize for having served in the system for many years.
Linda Powers, 60, has been in education for 23 years as a teacher, administrator and, in recent years, a guidance counselor at Inverness Middle School. She also has been involved in a number of local groups including the Citrus County Fair Association, Camp E-Nini-Hassee and the Withlacoochee Regional Planning Council.
Her opponent in the nonpartisan race to fill the last two years of the term of Sandra "Sam" Himmel, who resigned to run for school superintendent, is Bruce Bellamy, a 50-year-old carpenter who has worked with Citrus County's youth for more than 20 years as a coach of various teams.
Bellamy certainly knows children and how to inspire them to do their best. He knows the plight of working families and says that as a board member, he will be able to relate to all of the district's employees, from support crews to top administrators.
At recent candidates' forums, Bellamy has found his voice as a strong advocate for those who may feel that they are overlooked by the district's power structure. He revels in his role as an outsider to the district, someone with fresh ideas and "new blood."
Those are laudable attributes for any School Board member, but implicit in his rhetoric is that Powers is disconnected with those silent segments of the district and the community. Not only is that unfair, it is also untrue.
In her role as a guidance counselor for middle school children, Powers has had to deal with every kind of problem imaginable, from educational to societal. Working every day with children in the so-called awkward years, and their families, has given her keen insight into how the school system can help these students.
She also knows the challenges that teachers and school staff face regularly as they wrestle with educational mandates and limited resources in a growing school district. Being on the regional planning board has broadened her perspective and given her knowledge about regional growth patterns and trends that will be invaluable to a board member.
Bellamy, on the other hand, has little understanding of how the school system operates. From misstating that as a School Board member, he would be working for the superintendent to having scant knowledge of the source of funding for the multimillion-dollar budgets that he would be asked to approve, Bellamy would have an enormous learning curve before he could become an effective board member.
Some might call this an asset, that the board needs fresh eyes. Maybe so. But it would help Bellamy's cause had he demonstrated his interest in improving the district by serving on a PTA or a school enhancement council or volunteering in some other way at a school before seeking to be one of the five people who will make vital decisions about the district's direction.
Bellamy's strengths are Powers' weaknesses, and vice versa. Where Bellamy speaks with a preacher's zeal about breaking down the walls between the district and the community, about motivating students who do not want to go to college to get some other kind of advanced training, about making district support workers feel like they are part of the team, Powers can be so softspoken and upbeat that her audience has trouble taking her seriously.
Her challenge, if elected, will be to show the community that she is not what they fear she might become, a rubber stamp for the administration. Powers will have to show clearly, early and often that she will not be steamrolled by the entrenched bureaucracy at Montgomery and Main and to remember that she now answers to the voters and not the superintendent.
Powers' experience and education give her the edge over Bellamy in a race in which credentials and a real knowledge of how education is being conducted in the 21st century really do matter.
Bellamy would be an asset to the school district and we hope that he offers his services in any one of numerous opportunities that exist within the system. He should also pay close attention to the actions of the School Board, particularly votes by Powers, over the next two years and be ready to challenge her if circumstances warrant.
In this race, Powers is not the loudest candidate, but she is the best prepared. The Times recommends that voters choose Linda Powers for the School Board District 5 seat.
OPPORTUNITY TO REPLY
Candidates who are not recommended by the Times editorial board are invited to respond. Replies must be received no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday. Replies are limited to 250 words. Deliver to: Greg Hamilton, Editor of Editorials, Citrus Times, 301 W Main St., Inverness, FL 34450; e-mail to hamilton@sptimes.com or fax to 860-7320.