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Paycheck promise allows Perkins to exhale

Clayton Wilcox intends to get funding for the magnet coordinator and says he wants to restore all such jobs.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published March 30, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - For two years, one of the county's premier magnet programs has scrambled to maintain a critical staff position.

The first year, Perkins Elementary School, a school for arts and international studies, used the money it earned by getting an A from the state. The next year, it resorted to fundraisers.

This month, school advisory council and PTA members decided to talk directly to the new superintendent, Clayton Wilcox, to make their case.

They were pleasantly stunned. They asked for 30 minutes. They needed only 10.

Wilcox told them to stop worrying about paying for the $75,000-a-year position. Beginning next year, he said he would make sure Perkins once again has a full cadre of staffers to oversee its performing arts program.

"They went in and sat down and told him they felt there was a real need for a magnet coordinator at Perkins," said Pat Archibald, the school's program coordinator. "He said, "It's all done. We just haven't announced it yet.' "

In fact, Wilcox said Tuesday morning, he intends to restore coordinator positions to all of the magnet programs. Those positions were cut in 2003 when the state Legislature instructed the district to "live within its means" by shaving $24.2-million from its budget.

"You can't do magnet programs and not staff them differently than other schools," Wilcox said. "Some things go on at those schools that need more supervision than an assistant principal can give. My intent is to make sure they have the personnel to make the magnets work."

There is one issue, though. The School Board hasn't weighed in. And it's unclear who ultimately makes the call.

It's another instance of the new style of the new superintendent, a direct demeanor that goes straight to the point. The old superintendent would have asked the board first. But does the new superintendent need to, or can he act on such matters by himself?

Board member Jane Gallucci said such decisions normally are part of a lengthy budget discussion that doesn't even begin until the spring legislative session ends and districts know how much money they'll have to work with.

Lanse Johansen, the district's chief business officer, said it all boils down to how much money is in the pot.

"There's only so much," he said. "The more you spend, the less there will be available for other things, such as pay raises."

But if the superintendent makes a strong pitch for funding magnet coordinators, the district will fund them, Johansen said.

"I think we'd still have to workshop it with the board and have a budget discussion," he said. "But I don't know what he said to (the schools). We don't exactly know how he works."

Principals at several other schools were optimistic that they would receive the additional support but said they had not heard from Wilcox.

Bay Point Elementary principal Gaye Lively said regaining a magnet coordinator would ease the school's struggle to deliver services to its students.

"There have been disadvantages to losing that position as far as recruitment, retention and expansion," she said. "We as team leaders, resource teachers and classroom teachers have all had to carry that extra weight in some way."

Lisa Grant, principal at Gulfport Elementary, said she has had conversations with Wilcox about the need for a coordinator for the school's Montessori program but has received no official word the "attendance area" magnet school will have one next year.

"We believe this program can really meet our students' needs," Grant said. "In our minds, a Montessori coordinator is certainly one of the main pieces."

The position has been funded at Gulfport for the past several years by a federal grant that established the program in 2000. Maximo Elementary's microsociety program and Campbell Park Elementary's marine science program were created with the same grant. The schools are considered magnets, but only children who live in the attendance area are eligible to apply to them.

Like Gulfport principal Grant, Campbell Park principal Jim Steen said he hoped Wilcox would make sure his school can keep a coordinator. The federal funding that allowed him to have one for the past four years will run out at the end of this school year.

"If they gave us that unit, that would allow us to float the boat," Steen said.

Whatever happens at the other schools, it appears that district funding is a done deal at Perkins.

"I told them no matter what, I will make sure there will be money in the budget for them," Wilcox said.

[Last modified March 30, 2005, 01:03:17]