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While they may not admit it, the two candidates who emerged from the crowded field in the August primary election for the School Board District 4 seat have similar outlooks on life.
Both Bill Murray and Cindy Cino are plain-spoken and place a high value on common-sense solutions to everyday challenges.
Where they differ is in their credentials.
Cino, 47, is a nurse at Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center, a job that she says has given her the critical thinking skills that are necessary for board members. She also speaks compellingly of the plight of the county's working families and of single mothers who are trying to juggle family life and careers.
As a teacher for 39 years, the last 20 in Citrus County, there is very little that Murray has not seen in a classroom. Murray, 63, knows first-hand how students and their needs have changed over the years. He has seen how teachers struggle to meet federal, state and district educational mandates, usually with limited resources.
He now is in a position to do something to improve classroom education in Citrus County, and the Times recommends that voters give him that opportunity by sending him to the School Board.
Murray's familiarity with the real world of education in Citrus County clearly exceeds that of Cino, who has the arm's-length knowledge that comes from having been a student here and from raising a family in Citrus County.
On issues ranging from block schedules, year-round school calendars and the FCAT to ways to improve the Renaissance Center and get more students to attend the Withlacoochee Technical Institute, Murray offers realistic assessments.
His recommendations, such as that the five School Board members develop areas of expertise - such as, say, construction - to avoid being blindsided by crises such as the Homosassa Elementary School calamity, are sensible.
Ideas such as incentive pay to attract more teachers to the Renaissance Center, more meetings between the School Board and the County Commission to address shared growth-related concerns are evidence of his level of understanding of the district.
Cino, by contrast, offers well-meaning generalities with little substance. For example, she would like to see day care centers in schools to help working parents but has no idea where they would be set up in crowded buildings or who would pay for the service.
She also doesn't seem to understand how the system works, that the state has the major say in how school facilities are used. When she says she would build a new Homosassa Elementary School along U.S. 19, she misses the fact that the state, not the School Board, decides whether a new school will be financed.
Both candidates are seeking to fill the seat now held by Patience Nave, to whom Cino lost four years ago in a close election. While Cino continues to demonstrate her sincere empathy for the children and the working parents of Citrus County and no doubt would be a vocal advocate for families, she lacks Murray's depth of knowledge of the issues facing the district.
With the expectation that he will use his experience to push for real improvements in Citrus' classrooms and will not be reluctant to challenge the district's power structure, the Times recommends Bill Murray for the School Board District 4 seat.
OPPORTUNITY TO REPLYCandidates 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.