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Bostock, O'Shea, Lerner, Brown

Pinellas school officials are struggling to reduce the achievement gap and considering a new student assignment plan. Four of the School Board's seven seats are on the ballot in the Sept. 5 nonpartisan primary.

By Times editorial
Published August 18, 2006

Nancy Bostock

District 2 (countywide)

With new School Board district lines drawn, Mary Russell easily could have run for re-election this year in her own seat. But she chose to take on a board colleague she considers a nemesis, Nancy Bostock. It is fitting that Russell chose conflict. That characterizes her approach throughout her first term, and she is responsible for much of the board's dysfunction. We recommend Bostock.

This newspaper recommended Russell, 35, a former family literacy teacher, four years ago in part because she promised to shake things up. Instead, she has transformed board meetings into cranky monologues, always certain she has unearthed a new skeleton in the superintendent's closet. Her rants have so alienated the board that, as veteran board member Linda Lerner puts it: "When she's on my side on an issue, board members stop listening to me."

Bostock, 37, has at times allowed partisan ideology to blind her to real-world classroom needs. Her opposition to the property tax increase for higher teacher pay, approved overwhelmingly by voters, was one example. But this race is less about philosophy than about competence. Bostock is studious, reasoned, respectful and professional. Russell is not. Bostock is able to place decisions in a broader educational context, and her more nuanced views on the FCAT and student discipline indicate her approach to the job has become more sophisticated over her two terms and less tied to rigid rhetoric. Russell has not demonstrated similar growth.

The third candidate, Countryside High teacher and coach Chris Hardman, 53, has not run a credible campaign and seems focused only on better pay for teachers and coaches.

Voters have a chance to remove the single greatest contributor to the School Board's notorious dysfunction. Russell, who helped form an Internet blog for angry teachers, has been unable to make the transition from chatroom to boardroom.

In District 2, the Times recommends Nancy Bostock.

Peggy O'Shea

District 3 (countywide)

With five candidates in this race and no incumbent, an insider and an outsider rise above the rest. The insider, retired area school superintendent Lew Williams, knows the ropes. The outsider, professional mediator Peggy O'Shea, has occasionally shaken those ropes.

Both are high-caliber candidates, but O'Shea's experience as businesswoman and parent-activist can best provide better balance on a School Board that already includes four former district employees.

Williams, 63, retired last year after a 34-year career in Pinellas schools. His nuanced approach to student assignment, which calls for a combination of more neighborhood linkage with more magnet programs to encourage voluntary integration, speaks to his strength. He knows the details but can view them through a community lens.

O'Shea, 56, has shown that parents can make a difference in their schools, pushing as School Advisory Committee chairwoman at Gibbs High School for a new building that is now a reality. She has shown that volunteers can be heard, working most recently on the Choice Task Force to form recommendations on school choice. As chairwoman of the Pinellas Early Learning Coalition, a gubernatorial appointment, she also has been on the ground floor of Florida's new prekindergarten initiative.

O'Shea says the choice plan will need to give more weight to neighborhood preferences, consider diversity more broadly than just black and white, and increase magnet programs to match parental interest. She also wants to crack down on student discipline, to free teachers to teach.

O'Shea has been active in Republican politics and accepted a $20,000 contribution in this campaign, which we find disappointing. But nothing in her background suggests she will be following a partisan agenda. Indeed, she has been sharply critical of the governor's overreliance on standardized testing and thinks smaller class sizes will help teachers reach all students.

In District 3, the Times recommends Peggy O'Shea.

Linda Lerner

District 6 (district voters only)

Linda Lerner is the longest-serving member on a School Board that is wearing out its welcome. But the two men challenging her bring outdated, ill-informed and possibly partisan agendas. While Lerner's micromanaging has contributed to the board's difficulties, she is the only candidates in this race who has a demonstrated commitment to public education and the experience to be effective.

Lerner, 63, is a mental-health professional and community activist who was elected to the board in 1990 and has come to be a familiar face in schools and education offices throughout the county. She has fought for more vocational education opportunities, higher teacher pay, common-sense discipline, racial diversity in schools, and a reduced emphasis on standardized testing.

Lerner's attention to detail is a hallmark that more recently has led to some unproductive meddling, including one peculiar budget meeting in which she lectured about the proper method for repairing torn bus-seat covers. After being outvoted two years ago in the selection of superintendent Clayton Wilcox, Lerner created needless friction as he began his job. To her credit, she now acknowledges her missteps.

Retired electronic engineer Jack Killingsworth, 72, and Seminole real estate agent Carl Neumann, 60, offer almost no record with education. Killingsworth complains about the double-sessions his sons attended almost three decades ago and proudly counts local Democratic Party polemic Ed Helm as a supporter. Neumann was censured by the Fair Campaign Practices Committee in his failed run for state House in 1994 and runs this time as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pinellas Republican Party. Other than the $100 he contributed to himself, the party's $10,000 check is his only campaign contribution - and this is by law a nonpartisan race.

Lerner is not without flaws as she seeks a fifth term, but her opponents are not credible alternatives. In District 6, the Times recommends Linda Lerner.

Mary Brown

District 7 (district voters only)

Next August, Pinellas schools will eliminate the court-imposed racial ratios that have guided student assignment for nearly four decades. Mary Brown, a social services administrator who was elected four years ago as the first African-American ever to serve on the School Board, brings a sense of history and perspective that is essential as we face this uncertain future.

Brown, 70, understands the current choice assignment plan is unsustainable and that some resegregation is almost inevitable. But she also insists racial diversity is a vital ingredient in learning. "Children must be educated and know how to work with people from other backgrounds," she says. "We must find a way to keep some integration."

Brown is challenged by four capable candidates. Ray Tampa, 54, is a former Pinellas school principal who uses his own life history to explain the importance of never giving up on students. Jennifer Crockett, 33, is a legal assistant and mother who has been active in school and community clubs, and she has built an impressive campaign. Minetha Morris, 30, helps run an alternative teacher certification program and speaks with passion about reducing the achievement gap. Sheldon Schwartz, 69, is a retired nuclear engineer who has done his homework on the issues facing Pinellas.

Each of the challengers brings strengths to the race. But in this matchup, Brown provides the steady hand. She was slow to get her legs on the board, but she has been tenacious about the achievement gap, vocational education alternatives, teacher misconduct and racial integration. As it relates to promoting racial diversity with no more court-ordered ratios, Brown understands both the potential and the risks with single-race schools.

In District 7, the Times recommends Mary Brown.

[Last modified August 18, 2006, 01:47:42]