Retired administrator is latest to enter Pinellas School Board race

Max E. Loden, a veteran administrator with the Pinellas school system, has entered the District 1 School Board race.
Loden retired last summer, ending a 35-year career in which he worked as a physical education teacher, coach and district-level administrator. He spent his last 10 years as an assistant principal at Pinellas Park High, where he coordinated the criminal justice magnet program.
Running for a School Board seat is “something that I thought about for several years as I approached retirement,” the 58-year-old Loden said in an interview Tuesday. “I’m just not ready to walk away from (education) … I think I have a lot to offer.”
He said the board sometimes gets sidetracked on issues that stray from its core mission. “I’d like to see us focus on the things we do well,” he said.
The District 1 seat is held by board member Janet Clark, who has not yet announced a bid for a second term but recently picked up candidate materials from the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections office.
Jennifer Crockett, a School Board candidate in 2006, announced in early January that she would campaign for the seat.
In other races, Ken Peluso of Palm Harbor has announced his campaign to fill the District 4 seat held by veteran board member Jane Gallucci, who will not run for re-election. Board member Carol Cook, who holds the District 5 seat, has announced she will run for a third term.
After an early career as a coach and PE teacher, Loden became assistant principal at 16th Street Middle School, now known as John Hopkins Middle. He went on to be an assistant principal at St. Petersburg High and then became the district’s supervisor of support personnel, overseeing the hiring of bus drivers, teachers aides, office staff and other employees.
In retirement, Loden is the activities director at Veritas Preparatory Academy in Pinellas Park, a Christian school that offers classroom instruction two and three days a week to home-schooled students.

Comments

[audra]

Max was an awesome leader when he was my administrator at 16th street middle school. He has my vote!

Max is a man of integrity and would be a welcome relief on the board.

Point taken but the last ten years was at PPHS where he was quite good at what he did, I should know with two of my kids graduating from the CJ program.

PPHS is a "real" school, but supervisor of support personnel is an administrative position that is NOT based in a school.

35 years experience and he sent his kids and grand-kids to private school, sounds like the man might know something we don't and that is the type of leadership we need. Pinellas County has a 50 % graduation rate, I believe most private institutions are about 99.9 %. Also a "former Taj employee", I don't think so last I saw PPHS was a "real" school. Pinellas County Board of Education is basically a mess and needs someone with a back bone.

Is it a good idea to have a former Taj employee on the school board? Probably not....

He may be a great guy but that is far from enough to make him a good school board member. Poster 6:51, I would agree that his grandchildren attending Veritas doesn't mean he endorses home schooling over public but the fact that his children went to private school surely does.

He has no vested interest in the public school system. Nothing personal.

If you don't believe in the public school system enough to even bring your children to the school you work at, then you don't endorse public school.

Well considering the ackbassward stance that we've seen with evolution, if *I* taught in the school system and saw that firsthand, it's very possible that I would place my kids in private school.

They system can suck. Working in it doesn't mean it will go faster or be better. Education is nothing to screw with. I can't fault him if he did, or if his grandkids are.

Max and his wife have been loyal Pinellas County employees for years. I believe his grandchildren attend Veritas, and that is probably why he is involved there. That doesn't necessarily mean he endorses home schooling over public schooling.

Wasn't ready to walk away from education? He walked away from public education years ago when he put his own children in private school. Now he's an advocate for home schooling. That's not the credentials I'd like to see on the school board.