Schools

Hernando School Board's Malcolm opts not to run again

The ex-city manager has served 16 years on School Board.

By TOM MARSHALL, Times Staff Writer
Published January 16, 2008

BROOKSVILLE -- Longtime School Board member Jim Malcolm is calling it quits at the end of his term.

"I'm done," he said Tuesday. "I've been on the board 16 years. That's a long time."

In declining to run for a fifth term next fall, Malcolm may kick off a horse race for his nonpartisan, four-year seat in District 4. Already three candidates -- James Yant, Courtney Rinier and Robert Neuhausen -- have filed to run in the August primary and November general election.

"I think this will pretty much open up the field if other people are considering it," Malcolm said.

Over his four terms on the board, he helped preside over a dramatic expansion in Hernando County schools. Enrollment was a fraction of its current 23,000 and several schools -- including magnets Chocachatti Elementary, Challenger K-8 School of Mathematics and Science and Nature Coast Technical High -- hadn't yet been built or even imagined.

Indeed, Malcolm was a driving force in creating magnet schools in Hernando, and is deeply involved in the current push to develop a center for gifted children. Leaving that project on  solid footing is one of his priorities in the remaining months of his term.

But the 64-year-old Malcolm, a former teacher and city manager of Brooksville, said it was time for fresh voices and perspectives on the five-member board.

"I've gone through a generation of kids," he said. "Kids who started in kindergarten (in 1992) graduated three years ago."

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1431.

[Last modified January 16, 2008, 01:51:37]