A weekend interview with ...

... Sami Leigh Scott, president of the Pinellas School Advisory Council Association. Since taking the helm of this countywide organization, Scott has taken some high profile positions, such as writing local lawmakers to urge them to stop cutting education funding. She spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek about her goals for the organization and about parents role in education.

What exactly are your plans for the SAC committee? And this is an overarching committee, correct?

Yes, it is. It is the Pinellas School Advisory Council Association. I became involved in the school and the different government issues, policy issues, as soon as I enrolled my daughters in 2002 in elementary school. I learned of SAC and became a member at Gulf Beaches and then chair at Madiera Beach, John Hopkins and then vice chair at Gibbs. What I learned first as a member was how little parents knew of this committee and also what purpose it served as a parent in being involved. I sought out training to become a better parent advocate and learned that there was nothing out there. So I basically started joining the district advisory council and I started following the School Board members. I would check to see where I could go and who to talk to when I had problems.

So when you did all of that, did you find that there was a lot that needed to be done?

I learned that there were things being done, but not in the interest of our kids. And sitting as a parent on these SAC committees, the principals basically ran the show. And as a parent I noticed that we were intimidated, sitting in these schools talking and our children being enrolled and now knowing better because the parents are involved. We were just basically rubber stampers. Whenever she would announce something she needed our vote on, we just waited for the cue and our arms went up with no real understanding of what we were voting.

And now with the overarching committee and the different SACs, your goal is to get people more informed and to be active?

That's exactly right. I learned at the Pinellas SAC, and they were just meeting. I got on board and told them of my plight of trying to get help. In an attempt to make a difference, I asked them to do the training session for SACs. Now we put on a basic workshop, budgeting workshops. We put on bylaws workshops. We really try to inform SAC parents and members what we are able to do on the SAC committees and really become strong advocates, learned advocates. That's really what PSAC does now.

I saw you sent letters to the lawmakers speaking on behalf of the schools and students for finances. What prompted you to take that action?

That's one way to keep numbers down

While most of Florida's school districts have flat or shrinking enrollment, Pasco County schools continue to grow. The students flow in so quickly in some areas that the district can't seem to build new campuses fast enough to meet the need.

Thank goodness for inter-district transfers, right?

Every two weeks, the Pasco School Board approves a lengthy list of kids seeking to attend schools outside Pasco (mostly in Hillsborough), and a shorter list of those seeking to come to the district from other counties (primarily Hernando, Hillsborough and Pinellas).

It's working out so that the district is seeing the equivalent of a small school leave Pasco.

The latest report from the Pasco student services division shows that 281 students have asked to transfer in, while 691 have asked to leave - that's a 410-student difference, for those who don't want to do the math. Pasco has had that math work in its favor for some years now. Wonder how long the deal will last.

Hey, lawmakers, leave the funds alone

The new president of the Pinellas School Advisory Council Association has a message for local legislators: Stop messing with education funding.

Sami Leigh Scott expressed concern about recent cuts in a tersely-worded e-mail to Rick Kriseman, Bill Heller, Daryl Rouson and others earlier this week.

Scott spoke out specifically against budget reductions that led the district to cut its parental advocacy program, an initiative that for many years served as a bridge between families and school administrators.

She also railed against a decrease in funding to School Advisory Councils that means schools will receive $5 per student – down from $10 – over the next academic year, as well as a decrease in school recognition funding from $100 to $85 per student.

So far, she's received no response.

If other taxpayers agree with her stand, Scott says, they should follow her lead and write to their legislators. For anyone who wants to follow through, here is a list of House members.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

Latest candidates for Pinellas top job

The postmark deadline has passed for the Pinellas superintendent job, but resumes that beat the Friday midnight cutoff continue to trickle into the School Board office. Seven more applications have arrived since Friday, bringing the total at this point to 35.

Among the candidates: a Pasco County high school principal whose wife was raised in Pinellas and "would like to move back into that area since her family still resides there;" a school superintendent from Sandwich, Mich., who stepped down July 1, less than a year into a three-year contract; and a former state superintendent of education in Illinois and Michigan who served as state deputy superintendent in Delaware and Louisiana.

A quick sketch of the latest contenders follows, in the order their applications were received. Stay tuned to the Gradebook for a link to all the candidates' resumes and cover letters.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

Janssen submits application for superintendent

With the deadline for submitting applications for the job of Pinellas school superintendent looming – resumes must be postmarked by midnight tonight – the administrator who has been filling the position temporarily has become candidate No. 28.

Julie Janssen submitted a four-page resume to the School Board office just after 2 p.m. this afternoon.

In a two-page cover letter, Janssen wrote: "Meeting the ever-changing educational needs of today’s students requires a visionary and innovative leader who, together with the leadership teams, can move the district forward to meet our goal of providing the best educational experience for students.

"As a trusted and respected educator with extensive school and district-level leadership experience in a large urban school district, I am uniquely qualified to successfully meet the challenges that lie ahead and build on our assets."

Five letters of recommendation accompanied Janssen’s application. They came from Jade Moore, executive director of the teachers union; Gus Stavros, chairman emeritus of the Pinellas Education Foundation; former Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst; St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker; and Goliath Davis, deputy Mayor for Midtown economic development.

Devoted to being a dad - at least until he gets a new job

The latest candidate vying to become Pinellas' new school superintendent is Dennis Dearden, who says on his resume that he's been superintendent of the Marana Unified School District in Tucson, Ariz., from 2005 to the present.

But just like the superintendent candidate we told you about Wednesday, it appears Dearden's last day on the job was June 30 - the day he wrote the letter. The Tucson Citizen reported in April that Dearden was stepping down on that date for personal reasons.

"This is a difficult decision and one that was made after much soul searching and consideration of many factors in my life," Dearden said at the time. "I feel strongly that I must devote my full attention to my most important job in life - being a dad to my three children."

Got questions?

We need ’em.

The Pinellas County Council of PTAs and five co-sponsors, including the St. Petersburg Times, are planning a major televised forum Aug. 21 featuring the 13 candidates for Pinellas School Board. The plan is for the public to submit questions for the candidates right here, under this blog entry. That’s so participants will be able to see what their fellow citizens are asking.

The deadline for questions will be Aug. 10, after which a committee made up of sponsor representatives will choose the best ones. The debate will be held at Osceola High School and will be televised live on the school district’s channel, WPDS-TVl4.

The other co-sponsors are the Pinellas Education Foundation, Bright House Networks, the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and WorkNet Pinellas. The forum will consist of three moderated mini debates, one for each seat. The District 1 and District 2 board members represent the entire county. The District 4 board member represents Clearwater, Largo and the mid-county beaches.

This is an important election. Three of the board’s seven seats are up for grabs and the Pinellas school system is at a critical crossroads. So we encourage you to participate.

- Tom Tobin, education writer

Well, he was a superintendent when he wrote the letter

Another day, another oddity in Pinellas County's search for a new school superintendent.

Earlier this week, the district received a resume from candidate No. 20, Joseph P. Burke, who introduced himself as superintendent for the Springfield, Mass., school district. Burke's resume, which accompanied a cover letter dated June 30 on the district's letterhead, indicated that he has been on the job in Springfield from 2001 to the present.

Trouble is, Springfield Public Schools' Web site names someone else as superintendent. A quick search uncovered an April 15 article in Springfield's The Republican which stated Burke's contract with the school district ended June 30. It was not renewed.

In Pinellas, another superintendent candidate with 'issues'

Pinellas continues to be a magnet for superintendent candidates who have had issues in their previous jobs. The Gradebook has reported in recent days on the New York City principal who conducted a Santeria ceremony to rid her school of “negative energy;” the Brick Township, N.J., superintendent who is suing his former district; and the one-time Camden, N.J., superintendent who resigned amid a criminal investigation over allegedly falsified test results.

Now comes Sandra Ellis, left, former superintendent of North Chicago Community Unit School District 187, a tough urban district with 4,800 students where superintendent turnover is exceedingly high (19 superintendents in the last 15 years). According to a report in the Lake County News-Sun, Ellis was A.) suspended from her job and B.) arrested and charged with felony retail theft in 2005 for an alleged shoplifting incident at a Wal-Mart in Springfield, Ill. The charges were reportedly dropped, the case expunged and Ellis was quoted as maintaining her innocence and blaming “an overzealous, inexperienced clerk.”

She's also seeking the superintendent's job in Oregon, Ohio, where she told the Toledo Blade that her North Chicago experience had been "challenging."

In Pinellas, the number of serious applicants stands at 17, including Ellis and another new candidate, James F. Habel. Read below for summaries of all the applicants so far.

Former Camden superintendent seeks Pinellas job; once faced investigation

Pinellas’ national search for a new superintendent continues to attract candidates with serious baggage.

Last week, it was Maritza D. Tamayo, a former high school principal in New York City, who was fired in August 2007 after officials found she organized a Santeria ceremony in her conference room to rid the school of “negative energy.” The district also got an application from Mel Persi, who is suing his old district in New Jersey.

This week, meet Annette D. Knox, the former superintendent for the Camden, N.J., school system (2001 to 2006). Knox resigned in 2006 amid a criminal investigation over suspiciously high test scores at two elementary schools and allegations by a high school principal that he was pressured to falsify results on a state math test.

Magic solution: Would-be superintendent sought to rid her school of 'negative energy'

“Due to personal reasons, I find myself in the job market for the first time after 20 years … I am searching for an excellent school district where my education and experience can be maximized.”

So says the first paragraph of Maritza D. Tamayo’s cover letter to the Pinellas School Board, which is advertising for a new superintendent. The letter is more notable for what it doesn’t say. Tamayo, above, was fired last year after an investigator for the New York City School District found she “engaged in employee misconduct and she engaged in financial irregularities.”

A veteran educator, Tamayo has denied the charges. But in a controversy that provided endless fodder for the New York tabloids, she was accused in part of arranging a Santeria ceremony at Unity High School, where she was principal for 10 years, then pressuring her assistant principal to help pay for it.

Two more apply for Pinellas superintendent; one serious, one not

The first internal candidate to be Pinellas County’s next superintendent comes from Clearwater High School. He’s John B. Russell, a plant operator with the district since 1995, who submitted a two-sentence letter asking to be interviewed for the job.

“Don’t take it seriously,” Russell told The Gradebook. But he did say to call him back if he’s lucky enough to be interviewed. By the way, pay for plant operators ranges from $9.39 an hour to $29.27 an hour. The new superintendent’s pay works out to an hourly rate of up to $115 an hour.

Meanwhile, another intriguing candidate has applied for the job, and he’s serious. He is Melindo A. Persi, left, a long-time New Jersey superintendent who was fired April 29 by the Brick Township Board of  Education, according to news reports. Persi had been serving as Brick Township’s interim superintendent since last July. He’s suing the district (enrollment 11,000) in New Jersey Superior Court, seeking to be paid at the contracted rate of $700 per day through Nov. 20, 2008. That’s when his contract was set to expire.

See press reports on Persi’s tenure here, here and here. Below, see brief summaries of Persi and the 12 others who have applied so far.

Look what they're doing in Montgomery County

In recent weeks, as the Pinellas school system confronted its worst fiscal crisis in years, scores of residents and district employees wrote in with budget-cutting suggestions. Many said the solution was simple: Just stop transporting so many kids on buses.

Of course, the trouble with that is the Florida law requiring districts to provide bus rides to kids who live more than two miles from their schools. The law also requires districts to bus elementary school students who live within two miles but would have to navigate a hazardous road if they walked.

As the School Board sat down to address the budget, cutting bus rides was not even close to being on the table. Not so in Montgomery County schools just outside Washington, D.C., where the school board today is considering a measure that would give the superintendent emergency powers to curtail bus service if necessary this year.

That district's diesel costs have more than doubled in four years. The last time Montgomery County increased student walking distances (1996), nearly 2,000 students lost their rides. Read this Washington Post story for an interesting take on how other school systems are facing tough economic times.

Update: Three more want to be Pinellas superintendent

The three latest applicants in the Pinellas superintendent search are Maritza D. Tamayo of Forest Hills, NY; William R. Frank III of Bel Air, Md.; and Willie C. Watts, Jr., of Akron, Ohio. That makes 12 applicants with less than three weeks to go.

The nation’s 23rd largest school system, Pinellas has yet to receive an application from a sitting superintendent. The deadline is July 11.

Below, see a brief summary on these candidates and the nine others who preceded them.

More on school-based management

On Saturday, we reported that local business leaders have proposed a bold new plan for Pinellas schools that would divert decision making from district administration and place it – along with the money to run the schools – in the hands of principals, teachers and parents.

The model of "school-based management" has precedent in the Okaloosa County School District, where it was rolled out several years ago under the leadership of then superintendent Sen. Don Gaetz.

Gaetz, who currently chairs the Senate education committee, spoke with us at length about the plan. Read on to see what he had to say.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

And the ballot includes ...

The time to qualify for the August primary and/or November general election ballot has officially passed. Here's how things shook out. Watch for more coverage throughout campaign season.

Winners (no opposition):
Carol Cook, Pinellas District 5 (incumbent)
Jack Lamb, Hillsborough District 3 (incumbent)
Doretha Edgecomb, Hillsborough District 5 (incumbent)
Kathryn Starkey, Pasco District 4 (incumbent)
Pat Fagan, Hernando District 2 (incumbent)

Contested races
Pinellas School Board
District 1: Janet Clark (incumbent), Jennifer Crockett, Max Loden, Grant Smith
District 2: David Archie, Nina Hayden, Minetha Morris, Sean O'Flannery, Ron Walker
District 4: Chris Hardman, Steven Isbitts, Ken Peluso, Robin Wikle

Hillsborough School Board
District 1: Dave Schmidt, Susan Valdes (incumbent)
District 7: Stephen Gorham, Carol Kurdell (incumbent), Jason Mims

Pasco School Board
District 2: Kurt Conover, Peter Hanzel, Joanne Hurley
Superintendent: Stephen Donaldson (D), Heather Fiorentino (R, incumbent)

Hernando School Board
District 4: Gene Magrini, Robert Neuhausen, James Yant

Key Pinellas official steps down

The presidential candidates are tossing around the "change" theme this year, but it's actually happening in Pinellas schools. The system already is getting a new superintendent and school board this year. Now comes news of a key change in the administrative ranks.

Interim superintendent Julie Janssen announced at today's board workshop that Associate Superintendent Leon Hobbs is leaving the district. Hobbs is in charge of "facilities and operations," a sprawling operation that includes the school bus system, food service, warehousing, building maintenance and construction.

But deputy superintendent Harry Brown says Janssen "has a plan to bring someone in who will be well-prepared. I think the plan is a solid one." He said it would be someone already on staff.

A former superintendent, Hobbs previously led districts in Dothan, Ala., and Osceola County, Fla. He was seen as a possible contender to replace former superintendent Clayton Wilcox, but that appears to be off the table. Hobbs, who lives in Manatee County, wants to end his long commute and spend more time with his wife and 7-year-old daughter.

- Donna Winchester

School employee unions announce favored candidates

The political action committee for Pinellas County’s two largest school employee unions has announced its recommendations for School Board.The group supports Janet Clark, District 1- at large; Carol Cook, District 5; Ron Walker, District 2-at large; and Ken Peluso, District 4.

Clark, left, a former middle school teacher, “has been very faithful to our issues,” said Jade Moore, executive director of both unions, the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and the Pinellas Education Support Personnel Association. He added: “There are a lot of good people in that race. This was not an easy one.”

Walker, right, a former School Board member, gave “good answers” in his interview with the 14-member panel that reviewed the candidates, Moore said, adding that Walker was “developing into a really good board  member” when he left in 1992 to run for Tax Collector. The District 2 race also has several good candidates, Moore said. The committee “wrangled on that one for hours.”

In District 4, he said, Peluso, left, had “the best record of all-around service.”

Moore said the union has always supported Cook, right, who so far has no opposition in her bid for a third term. The qualifying deadline is Friday.

Two more jump into Pinellas superintendent stakes

Our running tally of Pinellas superintendent applicants continues today. Two more educators, John J. Selch of New York and James P. Hoover of Pennsylvania, have sent resumes to district headquarters. The deadline is July 11.

Below, see a brief summary on the two latest candidates and the seven others that preceded them. So far, the application pool does not contain a sitting superintendent.

- Donna Winchester

Update: Milwaukee educator is latest to apply for Pinellas superintendent post

Another applicant for the Pinellas school superintendent's job has sent a resume to district headquarters. He is Aquine Jackson (left), a top official with the Milwaukee school system. Below, see a brief summary of his resume and a listing of the candidates so far.

"Can you meet me by the dumpster tonight?"

Seventeen cases of alleged teacher misconduct around Tampa Bay are on this week's agenda for the Education Practices Commission, including one involving a Pinellas middle school teacher accused of inappropriate behavior on campus and criminal behavior off.

According to this administrative complaint, Roy Scott Sachse, then a PE teacher at Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School in Largo, allegedly wrote a note to a female student in December 2006 which said, "Can you meet me by the dumpster tonight?" Earlier that year, Sachse, 48, was arrested for stealing a submarine sandwich, the complaint notes.

Sachse's case goes before the EPC this week. And if it approves this proposed settlement, Sachse will get two years probation.

He's back

The District 2 School Board race in Pinellas just got more interesting. A short time ago, former School Board member Ron Walker, left, announced his candidacy. Walker sat on the board from 1984 to 1992, serving as its chairman in 1987. The District 2 seat is held by Nancy Bostock, who is running for a county commission seat.

“My interest in the education process in Pinellas County never diminished,” Walker said in a news release. “Up to now, I thought others could and would do the heavy lifting required to keep the quality of our schools at a high level. Today, I believe I am uniquely qualified among the announced candidates for this seat to lead during a very difficult time.”

The other candidates in the race are former Tarpon Springs City Commissioner David O. Archie; Nina Hayden, a lawyer in the Pinellas public defender’s office; Minetha Morris, a former Pinellas elementary school teacher who teaches at Hillsborough Community College; and Sean O’Flannery, a teacher and coach at Lakewood High.

I want to be your new superintendent

Six candidates for Pinellas school superintendent submitted applications this week. Stay tuned to The Gradebook for updates on who’s applying. The deadline for applications is July 11 and the School Board expects to reach a decision on five finalists by July 28.

Here’s a quick summary of the candidates so far:

Pinellas gets low marks for grad rates

Pinellas County has one of the worst graduation rates among the 50 biggest school districts in the country, according to a national study released this morning. Its rate for the 2004-05 school year was 55.5 percent, putting it at 15th from the bottom, concluded the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which is affiliated with Education Week magazine.

Detroit topped the worst list, with a 37.5 percent graduation rate, followed by Milwaukee, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Clark County, Nev. Hillsborough County came in at No. 32 with a rate of 67.1 percent.

Florida had a 60.8 percent rate that year (the most recent year for which national data was available), putting it at No. 44 among states behind Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. The national average was 70.6 percent.

The research center uses its own formula to calculate grad rates for its annual Diplomas Count report, and its numbers are at odds with the state Department of Education. According to DOE, Florida had a 71.9 percent rate in 2004-05 and Pinellas had a 70.1 percent rate.

For the first time this year, the research center broke down grad rates by congressional district. In Florida, the district represented by U.S. Rep. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, had the second-worst rate, at 51.0 percent. Only the district of U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, was worse, at 50.8 percent.

To see the entire Diploma Counts report, click here. To go straight to the Florida section, click here. By coincidence, today's St. Petersburg Times listed graduation rates for each of Pinellas€' 16 high schools. To see them, click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter; Times photo/Dirk Shadd

Step by step, click by click

Openly gay kids at a school dance may be a sign of change in Pinellas County. But in Clovis, N.M., they're including gay couples in the school yearbook.

A May 23 Associated Press story said two lesbian couples and nine straight couples were featured in a section titled "Do you want to go out?" The yearbook staff at Clovis High School decided to do so because, in the words of the editor, "We just wanted to show that there is a diversity. There (are) gay and lesbian couples in the school and they have a right to be in the yearbook just as much as anybody else does."

This did not go over well with everybody. Even the lieutenant governor weighed in, calling the inclusion "highly inappropriate" and "negligent exploitation of our kids."

So long

Pinellas Superintendent Clayton Wilcox, left, e-mailed this short goodbye to all district employees this morning:

"Thank you for the honor of serving the children and young people of Pinellas County with you. I am proud of our efforts and grateful to each of you for your support of "our" kids and their families.
"I wish each and every one of you only the best of what life has to offer."

Wilcox's last official work day is Tuesday, but he is taking vacation time until then. He begins a job soon with New York-based Scholastic Corp. Interim superintendent Julie Janssen has the keys to the district for the time being.

And because you were planning your summer vacation around the superintendent search, The Gradebook brings you the schedule for finding Wilcox's successor.

July 11: Deadline for applications.
July 14-25: Background checks of the top 10 applicants are conducted by Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association and the district's search consultant.
July 28: School Board and Blanton meet to select five finalists.
Aug. 27-29: Candidates visit Pinellas to interview with board members.

The board may schedule visits to the workplace and home city of one or more finalists. A final selection may come in late September or early October

Beyond the freeze: Pinellas teachers set sights on a raise

The grim budget picture for Pinellas schools continues to evolve. That initial across-the-board wage cut that fueled so much outrage has morphed into a wage freeze, thanks to a plan that will require employees to pay higher medical premiums. Now union officials tell The Gradebook they are pushing for more.

They contend there's enough money in the budget to give teachers their "step increases" (the routine raises based on years of service) plus a regular raise of 1.5 percent for teachers and all other employees. That’s a long way from where things started in the effort to cut $40-million from the budget.

Jade Moore (left), executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, points to $9-million the district has set aside to comply with the class size amendment. He contends Pinellas can meet the mandate without that money, and that it should go to employees.

District budget officials say otherwise. It's all part of the annual dance known as "collaborative bargaining," but the stakes in this year's crisis atmosphere seem higher. The School Board expects to settle on a budget by June 10.

Pinellas school start times will not change next year

Start times for Pinellas County elementary, middle and high schools will not change next school year. At a school board workshop today, officials decided against a new busing plan that would have moved high school start times from 7:05 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and middle school start times from 9:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. Under the proposal, most elementary schools would have started at 7:30 a.m. or 9 a.m.

More details to come.

Nerves fray as Pinellas debates budget mess

The budget crisis facing Pinellas schools was not on the agenda at Tuesday night's School Board meeting, but the issue took center stage anyway, making for some tense moments.

About 60 Pinellas teachers appeared in black clothing to protest the Legislature's decision to cut education funding, leaving Pinellas with a $40-million deficit. Kim Black (left), president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, said the protest was "to symbolize the grief we feel" over the cuts, which in Pinellas may translate to a pay freeze for the coming school year.

Black praised district officials for working to avoid an earlier proposal to cut salaries by 2 percent, a move made possible by increasing health insurance premiums. But she added: "Now we need to find just a little bit more (in the budget) so that the impact of the increase in health premiums can be offset by a modest salary increase."

Black also proposed several budget cutting ideas, including a one-year moratorium on teacher training; postponing the district's compliance with the class size amendment; a one-year stoppage in textbook purchases and a return to the four-day work week during the summer months.

That led to a discussion later in the meeting that had some board members sniping at each other and reacting to teachers, who alternately applauded and voiced displeasure.

One candidate's budget solution: No a/c on morning school bus routes

Scores of residents and school district staffers have offered budget cutting ideas to the Pinellas school district in recent weeks. Why not one of the candidates for School Board? Steven Isbitts, who is running for the District 4 seat, today announced a proposal to save $400,000 a year by not running the air conditioning on school buses in the mornings. The only caveats: air conditioners would be on when morning temperatures topped 80 degrees, and buses carrying special needs students would be exempted.

Isbitts, a former journalist, bases his math on an interview with Len Krysko, an official in the district’s transportation department. His news release contains several calculations. He estimates district buses could reduce the number of air conditioned miles by 5-million a year and that non-air conditioned miles would be 15 percent more fuel efficient. He bases the calculation on the district’s last fuel purchase, which came to about $4.17 a gallon.

He also suggests an incentive plan to get more bus drivers thinking about fuel efficiency. The other District 4 candidates are Chris Hardman, Ken Peluso and Robin Wikle.

Same company, different school?

Because of budget cuts, the Pinellas County School Board wants to end its contract with Community Education Partners, the Nashville-based company that runs the Oak Park alternative school in Pinellas Park. But CEP has quickly offered up Plan B: A new charter school.

In a May 9 letter, CEP chief executive Randle Richardson says the company would like to open a charter school dropout prevention program in Pinellas that he says would save the district money and "demonstrate innovative leadership." "The Board can demonstrate that even in hard times it is not turning its back on students with the greatest needs," Richardson writes. "It can save money and save kids."

To save money, district officials are looking to redesign their alternative programs, including moving some of them to the fairly new building that houses Oak Park. The board briefly discussed the CEP charter idea at its workshop last Thursday, but took no action. It would need to expedite approval of a CEP application in order for the company to set up a charter by next school year.

CEP runs a handful of alternative schools around the country, including some in Orange County. An affiliate of CEP, Advanced Learning Systems of Tampa, is also developing dropout-prevention charters in Lee and Broward counties, according to this recent Fort Myers News-Press story.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

A weekend interview with ...

... interim Pinellas superintendent Julie Janssen. A 28-year veteran of the district, Janssen, 59, has worked as a math teacher, school principal and deputy superintendent. Now she'll take the reins of control, at least temporarily, as Clayton Wilcox leaves in June. Janssen spoke with reporter Jeff Solochek via e-mail about the district's future and her own.

Why did you want to become interim superintendent?

When I accepted the role as deputy superintendent two years ago, I knew there would be times when I would fill in for the superintendent in his absence. As deputy, I already am integrally involved in all levels of decision making. When Dr. Wilcox announced he was leaving, offering to step up as interim was the right thing to do to maintain consistency in the district.

The district is headed for some tough times, not the least of which being the budget cuts.  Talk about the difficulties of taking over the top job now.

Managing a district in times of extremely limited education funding is challenging and difficult in a many respects. Based on the state's financial projections there doesn't appear to be any relief in the near future. It's difficult to identify areas to trim costs when we already have made substantial cuts in the range of $32-million over the past two years. Facing an additional $37-million next year means there's a good possibility that some positions could be eliminated and employees reassigned. Our district has faced these challenges before and we'll work through them together. I'm confident our finance team will assist us in looking at all possible solutions before submitting a balanced budget for board approval.

The district's employee unions have suggested a morale crisis exists. How do you intend to improve employee relations?

Two board members move to hasten Wilcox exit

The Clayton Wilcox era is slowly winding to a close in Pinellas, but not fast enough for two School Board members.

Veteran board member Linda Lerner (left) urged the board Tuesday to immediately reduce the outgoing superintendent's role to "transition consultant" and install his top deputy, Julie Janssen, as interim superintendent. The effect would have been a sudden end to Wilcox's tenure as superintendent, which the board previously agreed would last until June 3.

But Lerner got support from only one other board member, Mary Brown. Both have been critical of Wilcox on a number of issues. The final vote was 5-2 against the idea.

Lerner argued that the district needed to move ahead as soon as possible with new leadership because of the budget crisis and other pressing issues. She acknowledged that Wilcox would have to agree with the idea, but he did not chime in. Board member Peggy O'Shea said Wilcox still needed to "bring closure" to several issues before he leaves for a job with Scholastic Corp.

Also Tuesday, the board formalized its earlier decision to make Janssen the interim superintendent effective June 4 at a salary of $185,000. The contract says she would receive the same percentage pay cut as other employees if the board votes to balance the budget by reducing salaries. In addition, the board formally voted to hire the Tallahassee-based Florida School Boards Association to conduct a national superintendent search for $6,000 plus expenses, for a total of no more than $25,000.

Board members waived a provision in Wilcox's contract that says he would have to pay up to $60,000 for a superintendent search if he leaves before his contract expires June 30. Had the board enforced the provision, Wilcox was prepared to finish out the contract. Board members favored waiving it, saying it would cost less than paying Wilcox $29,248 in salary until June 30.

Who would weed out the bad apples?

Amid the long list of proposed budget cuts, the proposal to trim the Pinellas school district's Office of Professional Standards barely registered. It involved just three jobs, for a potential saving of $275,573 toward a goal of $37-million.

But the three jobs would have come from a department that employs only four people. If district officials hadn't had a change of heart about the recommendation, the office that deals with about 2,000 allegations of employee misconduct a year would have been dismantled shortly after state lawmakers approved an Ethics in Education law that potentially could make the department even more important and busy.

Who would have been charged with the responsibility of investigating cases that deal with everything from possible child abuse to sexual misconduct? Most likely, the job would have fallen to school principals.

Pinellas pay cut less than first proposed

Pinellas school officials no longer are proposing a 2 percent pay cut for about 14,000 district employees and a 6.25 percent cut for 2,000 non-instructional employees. Now, the worst case is a 1.5 percent cut for all 16,000 employees.

What changed? In a School Board workshop today, budget officials proposed to cut deeper into the district's reserves by $4.8-million and they said they learned that the system's property and casualty insurance will cost $1.1-million less than anticipated. Both developments make more money available for salaries. Instead of a $43-million in cuts, the district is now looking at cutting $37-million.

Officials also proposed ways to lessen the pay cut further or eliminate it, but all of them involved increasing health insurance premiums for employees.

Former Seminole High teacher enters not guilty plea

A former Seminole High School teacher scheduled to appear in court Monday on a third-degree felony charge has entered a written plea of not guilty.

Richard J. Anderson, 59, of Largo, convinced a 16-year-old female student to skip school with him in February. He told her he was taking her to a park, but instead drove her to his apartment and asked her to give him a back rub, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Anderson was arrested April 15 for interfering with the custody of a minor, a charge applied when someone illegally takes a young person from the custody of a public agency, such as a school.

Pinellas district officials previously had called for Anderson’s dismissal. He resigned rather than be fired, citing the reason as “personal.”

Anderson, who came to work for the district in 1973, taught social studies and had coached the girls basketball team.

A pre-trial hearing has been set for June 3.

-Donna Winchester, Times staff writer

Teachers say: Make Wilcox pay for part of search

Concerned over a $43-million budget deficit that could impact 16,000 school district employees, the head of the Pinellas teachers union said Friday that outgoing superintendent Clayton Wilcox should be held accountable for at least part of the district's cost to find his replacement.

Speaking on behalf of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, executive director Jade Moore acknowledged to the Gradebook that asking Wilcox to pay the up to $60,000 that his contract stipulates in the event he leaves the district before June 30 would be unreasonable. Wilcox likely would stay until that date rather than leaving on June 3, the date the board has agreed to let him go, thus negating the obligation.

Asking him to cover the full cost of a Florida School Board Association search – $6,000 plus expenses, for a total of up to $25,000 – also would be a poor business decision for the board, Moore said, since the district would have to pay Wilcox $28,000 in salary to cover the additional weeks of his employment.

But that doesn't mean the board shouldn't ask for any reimbursement at all, Moore contends.

"Wilcox has put the board in the position of having to conduct a search three years earlier than they had planned," he said. "The very least the board should do is ask him to pay the $6,000. Asking him to pay that much is the responsible thing to do."

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

Janssen to be interim Pinellas schools chief; district's first female superintendent

Dr. Julie Janssen, deputy superintendent and chief academic officer talks with reporters after Pinellas County School Board members put an item to have her appointed interim superintendent on the agenda for the May 13 meeting. [ATOYIA DEANS | Times]

The Pinellas School Board informally agreed in a workshop today to appoint deputy superintendent Julie Janssen as the interim replacement for outgoing superintendent Clayton Wilcox. The board will make the decision official in a formal vote May 13. Janssen, 59, will be the first female superintendent in Pinellas history. Several district staffers and board members congratulated her with hugs after the meeting.

The seven-member board remained split on the separate question of whether Janssen would be allowed to apply to be Wilcox's permanent replacement. The board will conduct a national superintendent search. Three board members said some candidates would be scared away if an inside candidate competed for the job. Three others said they wanted a full range of candidates, including Janssen and others within the district. Board member Janet Clark was the only board member not to take a position.

Janssen was born in Belize but raised in Pinellas County, graduating from Boca Ciega High in 1966. Wilcox, who is leaving for a job with Scholastic Corp., appointed her as his top deputy in 2006. She previously was principal at St. Petersburg High and Countryside High.

Drum roll please for National Merit Finalists

Sixteen students in Tampa Bay have been named National Merit Scholars, a honor widely recognized as the gold medal of high school awards. The students were selected on the merits of their academic records, personal essays and community work. They rose to the top of a semi-finalist pool culled from the top one percent of high school seniors, based on test scores on the PSAT exam taken in 2006.

Hillsborough's public schools counted five winners, compared to four in Pinellas and two in Pasco. The students all received $2,500 scholarships.

Hillsborough public schools:

• Andrew Betts, Plant High
• Sherry Chao, King High
• John Colby, Plant High
• Zongyu Li, King High
• Neil Manimala, King High

Pinellas public schools:

• Bridget Hendricks, Countryside High
• Karan Sagar, Palm Harbor University High IB
• Michelle Wang, St. Petersburg IB
• Sam Zakria, St. Petersburg IB

Pasco public schools:

• Ariel Choi, Land O'Lakes High
• Katie Lee Meusling, Land O'Lakes High

Private schools:

• Tara Braun, Berkeley Preparatory
• Alexander Edelman, Tampa Preparatory
• Aaron Koch, Tampa Preparatory
• Neal Miller, Berkeley Preparatory
• Samir Patel, Berkeley Preparatory
• Carter Schwartz, Shorecrest Preparatory School
• Liz Reischmann, Shorecrest Preparatory School
• Tiffany Cheezem, Shorecrest Preparatory School

Make him stay? Make him pay? Or just move on?

Pinellas School Board members may have differing ideas on how to replace outgoing superintendent Clayton Wilcox, but there was one point they all agreed on last week when they met to begin discussing the process: They don't want to spend a lot of money on a national search during such dire financial times. Fair enough.

But it turns out they may be able to conduct a national search without paying a penny.

A clause on Page 5 of Wilcox's contract says that if he leaves the district prior to June 30, he's liable for up to $60,000 toward the cost of finding his replacement, "with said sum being withheld from final salary payments or otherwise paid by the superintendent until the full cost is paid to the board."

It's unclear why that wasn't brought up when the board met Friday. Board member Janet Clark tells the Gradebook she thought that portion of Wilcox's contract had been removed.

Board member Linda Lerner said she knew the clause was there, but that she would be willing to waive it if the superintendent asks the board to consider doing so at its May 13 meeting. "There is no doubt in my mind he would stay through June 30 because he won't want to pay the $60,000," Lerner said. "I think it's in the best interest of the district to not hold him to that extra month."

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter (Photo from Pinellas school district)

Pinellas to search nationally to replace Wilcox

In a workshop that ended minutes ago, the Pinellas School Board informally agreed to conduct a national search to replace outgoing superintendent Clayton Wilcox as soon as possible. The goal is to have a new superintendent in place by Aug. 13 when teachers return from summer break, but board members said that was not a hard deadline.

The board also said it wanted to hire an interim superintendent before Wilcox leaves in early June. But board members could not agree on whether the interim should be allowed to apply for the permanent job. Among the considerations: Some board members feared that if the interim turned out to be one of Wilcox's deputies, many outside candidates would hesitate to apply, thinking the interim had a leg up in the process.

Board members agreed to discuss the issue in the next few days with Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association. The board tentatively agreed to hire the association to conduct the national search.

The board quickly dispensed with the issue of whether to waive a requirement that Wilcox give the board five months' notice. Board members unanimously agreed to allow him to leave by early June, after graduation week.

Hillsborough's Grego bids for Pinellas superintendent job

The Pinellas School Board will meet Friday to begin discussions on how to replace outgoing superintendent Clayton Wilcox. But the district heard Wednesday from a big name in local education circles who is interested in the job. Mike Grego (left), Hillsborough County's assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, wrote the board saying he'd like to be Pinellas' next superintendent.

"I recognize that the search for the superintendent has not been officially advertised, but I want to be proactive and express my sincere desire to lead the Pinellas County School District as its next superintendent," Grego began in a two-page letter that accompanied a nine-page resume.

Grego, who was a finalist for the Hillsborough top job in 2005, cited Hillsborough's student achievement gains, his knowledge of Pinellas County and his policy experience, saying he would be "a perfect choice for your district."

He wrote that he is familiar with Pinellas' student assignment plan, its bus system issues, its magnet programs, plus "the state of teacher morale and your progress closing the achievement gap."

He didn't say it in the letter, but Hillsborough has outpaced Pinellas on several measures in recent years, most notably with its graduation rate and the performance of minority students.

Several other candidates for the job have surfaced, including Wilcox's top deputies, Julie Janssen and Harry Brown. Wilcox has accepted a job with Scholastic Corp. and wants to leave the district by June 1.

Ed foundation suggests looking to business for next superintendent

Before the Pinellas School Board makes a decision on a replacement for outgoing school superintendent Clayton Wilcox, an influential local education group will have its say, the organization's leader has promised.

"I'm sure we'll have a discussion about where we want to be in the process regarding particular traits or leadership abilities," said Terry Boehm (left), president of the Pinellas Education Foundation. "It would certainly be within our right to do that."

One trait the foundation will insist upon from any candidate, Boehm said, is a commitment to increasing career and technical education opportunities for high school students. For more than two years, he said, the group has considered such programs the surest route to reducing the dropout rate and improving Pinellas' sagging graduation rate.

The group is so convinced that the district's future depends on the creation of rigorous career education programs, Boehm said, that its board of directors might suggest that the board look for a new superintendent from among the ranks of business and industry.

"I don't think the board should be short-sighted and discount that possibility," he said. "I think that's certainly something they should look at."

See tomorrow's St. Petersburg Times or tampabay.com tomorrow for the rest of the story.

- Donna Winchester, Pinellas education reporter

More School Board candidates in Pinellas

David Archie and Minetha Morris have joined the field of candidates running for Pinellas School Board, bringing the total to 12. Archie recently left the Tarpon Springs City C