Lennard vows fewer crowded schools

He kicks off the school year with a promise to take a pay cut if any school earns an F and to work to rid all campuses of portables.

By SARAH SCHWEITZER

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 8, 2000

TAMPA -- Superintendent Earl Lennard heralded the start of the school year with a vow to reduce school overcrowding and a renewed promise to take a pay cut if any Hillsborough County school earns an F under Gov. Jeb Bush's A-Plus Plan.

At his annual back-to-school news conference at the district's administration building, Lennard stressed the district was committed to ridding schools of portables, the temporary classrooms considered by many to be unsafe and ugly. Last year, there were 1,700 portables used on Hillsborough school campuses.

Lennard said the district had made some strides in reducing school overcrowding. Since 1997, he said, the district has reduced critically overcrowded schools -- those at 120 percent or more of capacity -- from 33 percent to 13 percent of all schools.

But to eliminate them entirely would cost roughly $1.2-billion over five years, an amount the district projects falling short of by about $400 million, Assistant Superintendent Jim Hamilton said.

Lennard donned a white construction hard hat to announce the opening of four new schools this year: Colleen Bevis Elementary and Randall Middle, in the Fishhawk Ranch community near Lithia, Davidsen Middle in Westchase near Town 'N Country, and Pride Elementary in New Tampa.

Lennard said the district will be equally focused on maintaining and improving Hillsborough schools' grades under the A-Plus Plan.

"More than 60 of our schools improved by one or more letter grades for the 1999-2000 school year, and we had more than six times as many A schools than the year before," Lennard said. "But improvement is a continuous process."

To that end, he said, he vowed once again to take a 5 percent pay cut should any Hillsborough school earn an F. Lennard earns about $165,000 a year.

Moreover, Lennard said, the district plans to funnel federal funds to D schools and require after-school and Saturday tutoring for struggling students.

"If you remediate them now, you increase the possibility that the learning curve will continue to grow," Lennard said.

The new school year will bring several changes for students and teachers, Lennard said, including four more school days on top of the traditional 180-day schedule.

"This makes us the district with the most instructional time in the state," Lennard said.

The new school days are Jan. 4, 5 and 8, plus Feb. 9 for Plant City area students and March 5 for students elsewhere in the district.

Asked whether he planned to advocate year-round schools, Lennard said he was not ready to commit to that concept but would push for increased instructional time for students.

"Our students need more time on task," he said.

Also new this year, Lennard said, are four more charter schools, bringing the district's total to 14. More charter applications are to be considered this year.

Other major issues face the district this year, Lennard said. One is whether to approve the plan for desegregation that leaves school choice up to parents. Another is whether to accept an exclusive 5-year contract with a single source for all computer hardware and software.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.