Pinellas School Board | District 4

Ken Peluso, Robin Wikle, Runoff

	Ken Peluso, 51	Robin L. Wikle, 45
Experience	Peluso has been a chiropractor for 25 years and owns Peluso Chiropractic and Rehab in Palm Harbor. He also is chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County, an agency with a $51-million budget that distributes public money for early childhood and school readiness services such as the state’s prekindergarten program. Peluso has served on various local government boards in Palm Harbor. He graduated in 1979 from Merrimack College in Massachusetts and in 1983 from Sherman College of Chiropractic. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Florida House.	Wikle and her husband have owned a Palm Harbor real estate business, Coldwell Banker Wikle Properties, for 15 years. Previously she worked as a special- education teacher for Pinellas schools for five years and was a part-time classroom assistant for four years. She has been active in Tarpon Springs civic affairs, serving on the Chamber of Commerce board and a city parks and recreation advisory council and leading a youth football and cheerleading league. In 1985, she received a master’s degree in special education from Florida State University.
Main pitch to voters	“I truly believe that to be an effective school board member one must have adequate experience dealing with multiple issues, including not only education issues but also multimillion-dollar budgets, union contracts and diverse community issues. I have that experience.”	“I wish to build bridges, promote teamwork and encourage positive energy to the School Board.” As a parent, former teacher, business owner and community activist, she says she’s well-rounded. Says she would work at the job full time.
Views on a proposed change to school-based management	Strongly supports the idea because “what we have is simply not working. It’s time to act and decisively act.” However, wants Pinellas to develop its own plan rather than copy another county.	Agrees with the concept of decentralizing the system but wants to ensure that the change works for Pinellas. Before committing, wants to travel to Okaloosa County to examine its plan.
Other issues	Calls for more emphasis on early learning and school readiness to address the achievement gap and graduation rate. “Simply put,” he says, “we must teach our children to learn.” Also supports new emphasis on career education.	Not a fan of making high school start time later, saying it could limit valuable after-school activities. Strongly supports career programs like Centers of Excellence and says students need more time with tutors, mentors and counselors.
Assets	Home, cars, chiropractic practice, commercial property, other real estate, investments.	Business, home, investments
Liabilities	Home and commercial building mortgages	Mortgages, business loan
Net worth	$1.6-million	$2.4-million
Source of income	Chiropractic practice, rental income, investments	Real estate business, investments
Personal	Lives in Palm Harbor with wife Julie and a son who attends Carwise Middle School. Has a stepson who graduated from Pinellas schools.	Lives in Tarpon Springs with her husband, Paul. They have three sons ages 15 to 21. The youngest attends Tarpon High School.
Web site	Yes	Yes
E-mail	Yes	Yes

About the job: District 4 encompasses Tarpon Springs, Oldsmar, Palm Harbor, Safety Harbor and Dunedin and parts of Clearwater, including Countryside and north beaches. Seven board members serve staggered four-year terms. They oversee a system with more than 140 schools, 100,000-plus students and a $1.5-billion budget. Under a state formula, each earned $40,592 in 2007-08.

Additional issues questions

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

Ken Peluso: "Curricular changes are critical. Early intervention in crucial and more emphasis needs to be placed on widely accepted and proven techniques of learning. Simply put, we must teach our children to learn. Middle and high school curricular changes need to focus on relevancy. We all know the statistics so I will not elaborate as to the need of providing a greater diversity of real world, practical programming which will first and foremost, keep our high school age students in school and better prepare them for the workforce or continued education. I support the ideas presented in the White Paper though common sense tells us we need to adapt the model used by Okaloosa County to the specific and unique needs of Pinellas."

Robin L. Wikle: "1.  I am actively promoting the district's "Centers for Excellence" Many students are not ready for college after high school. 2. Guidance Counselors at the high school level who make contact with freshman and stay with them until their senior year. 3. Advisory classes should be scheduled weekly for all students in high school. They will meet with an advisor and share any scheduling issue, goals and/or decisions that affect the student's future. 4. Increased mentors and tutorial programs will help the graduation rate."

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

Ken Peluso: "Our current board has moved quite effectively with new student assignment plan. We will realize full transportation cost benefits as grand fathering diminishes over the next 3-4 years. I believe we should move to a two tiered bus schedule. I also believe we must continue to strive to limit the effect of the class size amendment."

Robin L. Wikle: "Eliminate "dead head" bus routes. Keep searching for a North County alternative. Implementing the Student Assignment Plan will help with the transportation cost in the district."

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

Ken Peluso: "Accept the reality that achievement gaps exist, not only between black and white student populations but minorities in general. This gap is largely created prior to students entering our system and the best strategy is to put far more emphasis on early learning and school readiness. That is a key issue which our district has little if any control. We must allocate resources based on need. Title 1 funding helps however not nearly enough. Success zone programs need to be evaluated and altered to allow more teacher and school input and control."

Robin L. Wikle: "The district is responsible for implementing techniques that reduce the achievement gap. The school's responsibility is to promote high expectations of students' achievement by students and staff members and parents. Maintain quality teachers in racially diverse schools. Hire strong instructional leadership that frames the vision and turns it into reality"