Pinellas School Board | District 2

Winner: Nina Hayden, Sean O'Flannery

	Nina Hayden, 33	Sean O’Flannery, 40
Experience	Hayden is an attorney in the public defender’s office, Sixth Judicial Circuit. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and pre-law from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Md., and a law degree from Stetson University College of Law. She has been a Pinellas County resident since 1998.	O’Flannery, a Pinellas County graduate and a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, has been a history teacher and head volleyball coach at Lakewood High since November 1996. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from University of South Florida and served in the Florida Army National Guard.
The most pressing issue facing the district	The graduation rate; matching struggling students with mentors and beefing up career education opportunities for those not going to college.	The superintendent search; finding a “quality person” with business as well as education experience who will be here for the long term.
Something worth fighting for	Re-evaluating alternative schools and preventing children from being unfairly labeled.	Not letting teachers go despite budget cutbacks; appealing to lawmakers if necessary.
What he/she would bring to the board	A perspective on discipline that would keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.	An insider’s view of the system that allows him to understand the district’s underlying issues.
Assets	Condominium	Home, other real estate, investments
Liabilities	Mortgage, other loans	Mortgages
Net worth	$143,238	$180,000
Source of income	Public defender’s salary	Teaching salary
Personal	Born in Norfolk, Va.; hobbies include singing and golf.	Born in Baltimore; hobbies include fishing and reading.
Web site	Yes	Yes
E-mail	Yes	Yes

About the job: District 2 is an at-large seat elected countywide. The board member may live anywhere in the county. The winner of this seat will serve two years, completing the term of Nancy Bostock, who is a county commission candidate. The seven-member board serves staggered four-year terms. Members oversee a system with more than 140 schools, 100,000-plus students and a $1.5-billion budget. Under a state formula, board members earned $40,592 in 2007-08.

Additional issues questions

Q. What strategies would you use to improve the rate of high school graduation?

Nina Hayden: "We need to promote the value of getting a diploma. This means creating a curriculum that is relevant, stimulating and teaches the student the financial gains that can be made in the workforce post graduation. We need to utilize technology in student learning to develop job readiness and provide more opportunities for students to enroll in programs where they can learn a skill. Teacher training and expansion of the career academies would be needed to accomplish this goal."

Sean O’Flannery: "Reduce suspensions by implementing the ABS (Alternative Bell Schedule) program. Offer programs like Academic Acceleration Program. This program is used to help students catch up after falling behind their freshman year. Improve the relationship between high schools and vocational programs. Educate principals that vocational programs are not drop out programs."

Q. How would you reduce the amount and cost of bus transportation in the district?

Nina Hayden: "After the new assignment plan is implemented this year the possibility of moving from a three tier system to a two tier system, if it proves to be cost effective, may be a solution."

Sean O’Flannery: "As more students start going to schools closer to home, the amount of buses driving in the school district will go down. It will just take several years for the district to see the savings from this program. I would like to implement the system similar to UPS software where they make only right hand turns on their routes. This means less idle time at a light and saving in gas. Look at alternative vehicles that use different types of fuel source."

Q. Do you support changing the starting times for high school? If so, how would you achieve that?

Nina Hayden: "Although I would support a change in the starting times for high school I believe it would be difficult to implement during our time of budget cuts."

Sean O’Flannery: "I do support the two tier system, where high schools will start later in the day. Currently, I have 50% attendance in my 1st period class, that starts at 7:05 a.m., and studies prove that students perform better with more sleep. The whole goal is to plan out and implement this program well in advance so that schools and parents should have lots of time to prepare for the changes. How to do it? First you must work with transportation by requesting how many students are currently going to schools outside of their neighborhood schools. Then look at the cost of the implementation of this program. Next ask the parents in a survey if they support the change of times and what effect it will have on them. This plan can only work if the parents support it, it can be done in a timely manner and it is cost effective."

Q. The gap in achievement between black and white students in Pinellas, as measured by the FCAT, is wider than most of the state's urban counties. What is the school district's role in reducing that gap?

Nina Hayden: "We need to provide mentors and tutors for those that are falling behind. We should have a more cautioned approach to how we label children and most of all create an environment where the children feel valued and there is an expectation of success. Teacher training and support would be needed to carry out this goal."

Sean O’Flannery: "There are lots of programs that offer tutoring and summer camps to help struggling students. My belief is that by reducing suspensions and getting more students in class and keeping them on task will help them improve. African Americans made up 19% of all students in the county yet they made up 46% of all suspensions. I would like to point out that I'm not going to allow discipline to slip or give out an order to schools to not suspend students. My goal is to come up with alternative programs to improve the attendance rate and keep kids in school. By having a higher attendance rate, hopefully students are learning more and this will help to shrink the achievement gap but yet help all the students, black and white."