School Board Candidates: Who Would You Pick?
Governor Crist, in the next few weeks, will be making an important appointment to the County School Board to replace Kurt Kelly. The seven current applicants who meet the residency requirement are:
Community activist Pat Gabriel; real estate broker, former Dunnellon City Council member Valerie Porter-Hanchar; Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association executive vice president Richard "Dick" Hancock; educator and community activist Roosevelt Rimes; former UF football star, Judd Davis; lawyer Stephen Shaw; Howard Gunn, chairman of Front Porch Ocala.
We would like to hear your thoughts on the candidates. Tell us what you know about the strengths and weaknesses of these candidates for our School Board. Who would best serve our community on one of our most important local governmental bodies? Also, what do you think about the effort to encourage the Governor to appoint a minority to the position? Let’s hear from you.
Also, you can convey your thoughts (recommendation or otherwise) to the Governor about a particular candidate(s) via letter at:
Office of Governor Charlie Crist
Appointments Office
The Capitol, LL10
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001
posted by Blog Master @ 9:04 PM
58 Comments:
I notice the campaign for getting Steve Shaw appointed has already started in another section of the blogger.
Voice of Reason says.......
Thanks Blog moderator, this string is really needed!!
I went to Shaw's law website and I'm convinced that he is easily the best qualified candidate. In addition to being a lawyer (none other on the board that is constantly confronted with legal issues), he has a Ph.D. from a great university. Ph.D. is a sign that Shaw has been around education forever. Further, Shaw's thesis was on public school finance!
Shaw has more qualifications than most consultants that school boards hire. The board would pay Shaw more as a consultant than they would for a school board salary.
As Anon said in the other blog, Shaw ran in the house 24 seat race saying that he would cut budgets by 20% - he has pledged 20% of his school board salary to public school teachers and homeschooling efforts.
As a side note on the minority issue - as a practical matter, are any of the minorities Republicans? I would think not. It is very unlikely that Republican Crist (RINO or not) would appoint a Democrat here in Marion Co.
VoR
I don't care for any of these candidate. I think Nancy Stacy would be a great choice. Gov. Crist should choose her.
Voice of Reason says...
Please keep her out of this. Her name is synonymous with "Buzzkill." She comes around and the good writers dart away like a minnows from a great white shark.
VoR
Are you kidding VOR?
Shaw has virtually no public support. His record of community service is "missing in action." He probably has an automatic violation of campaign election rules for his late filing of a campaign finance report hanging over his "qualified" head.
I hope the Governor's staff would also do a complete and thorough review of the "6130 land trust" if they are even remotely considering this Phd (Piled Higher and Deeper) dud.
(Note: Strong opinion to follow)
NO!!!! I think Nancy Stacy would be a good School Board candidate.
VoR, is this your blog? I don't think so. Let my opinion count.
I'm up late and thank goodness something other than Kelly to talk about!
Why even have a school board? I would eliminate them and let Yancey do his job the way the other constitutional officers (sheriff, clerk of courts, etc.) do. Yancey could set up an advisory group of citizens, parents, and other interested people to advise him. He can clear his budget through the county commission just like the other officers do. In my estimation, the school system would work a lot better and with less cost at the top from the five members of the school board.
See what happens when I'm up late!
Gun Nutt says...
Shaw would be good. Anyone who would cut spending is OK in my opinion. I don't care about any techincal rule that may or may not have been violated. We need people in positions of power who understand that the government is too big.
First, Nancy Stacy did not apply and I understand the deadline has passed.
Second, don't believe she meets the residency requirement (she doesn't live in the district). That already took out 4-5 candidates, including a couple of good minority candidates.
So bummer to the Nancy idea!
Voice of Reason says.......
Uh-Oh...... Looks like all the buzzkillers are back. Here's the guy who wants Shaw hung for being late on a campaign report - something he probably did on purpose.
I had some hope for this string but it looks like its going down the same tubes as he last ones.
I would like some run-down of the candidate's qualifications. Pat Gabriel: how is she qualified for the Board? Dick Handout? Eugene Foole? The real estate broker lady?
In 20 years I'll look on a blog about the goat skin trade in Uzbekistan and Buzzkill will show up saying, "Shaw was late filing a campaign report." It's Buzzkill's only stock and store. He/she should come around "nevermore."
VoR
The school board needs someone who will see that the following problem is fixed.
Compared with the other School districts Marion County was tied for 20th place out of the 67 other school districts for the 2005-2006 school year.
The School grades that were just released today shows,
Marion County is in 37th place out of 67 school districts for the 2006-2007 school year.
So who is best qualifed on the list to do this?
Shaw brings fear to many of the local politicos in waiting. He is young, smart, well educated and I could go on. He brings much to the game that many of them don't. The way to approach him is find some pimple he has and turn it into HIV. To bad that we don't have some voter who actually study a candidates background. I don't know if Shaw is the right person or not. But it is sure as heck worth getting to know more about him. Late filing of some dumb ass report is not on my list of disqualifiers.
Voice of Reason says.....
I keep hearing '60s dinosaurs boo-hooing at how there were "good" minority candidates who aren't eligible. Can someone explain why they are good? Or is it a case of the horse before the cart? "They are black/hispanic so they are good." The days of getting away with the intellectually fraudulent and politically expedient argument that "diversity" for diversity's sake is good are ending.
I don't know what Eugene Foole has done - as they say, cream rises to the top - if he has done such great things, wouldn't we know about those things? If you know, please tell the blog. I've just seen him as a race baitor who will gladly make a good cop lose his job, smear the police, and let thugs terrorize the street to notoriety and stir-up a cause.
Smiley was a principal - that's all I know. Knowing affirmative action, he was probably elevated above other (probably more) qualified contenders just because he is black. Does he have some record of visionary leadership, outstanding service, or extraordinary commitment to education? What has he done since being a principal?
Munoz, does he know what's going on in the schools? What are his qualifications? It would help to get more real information on these guys.
Pat Gabriel - seems like she is the Hwy 200 rabble-rouser. Nobody has said why she would be good for the board.
The Banner had the surprising courage to say that the focus should be on qualifications.
VoR
Gun Nutt says...
Yeah the whole diversity thing was a bad joke 30 or 40 years ago. Now it's like that same bad joke after you've heard it 50 thousand times. At this point I'm real sick of hearing it.
Voice of Reason says.......
About those grade statistics . . . Marion really has no exucuse not to be in the top. we don't have the scale of problems that big cities have and there is plenty of money in the system.
VoR
VOR let me help you understand.
Mr. Shaw did not disclose contributors or the amounts of any contributions as required for public disclosure 3 days before an election. If he did this on purpose then he really does have a problem with ethics in addition to violation of the election campaign finance rules.
Do you not think that it is important for voters to know this information 3 days before they vote?
This is probably the most important of all of the campaign finance reports to have filed on time. This is not a case of it was held up in the mail since it is required to be filed electronically to the Department of Elections. Why did he not file?
The reason the law is there so that media outlets have the time to report the information. If the information is controversial then there is time for debate.
It provides a level-playing field since all candidates are required to divulge this information.
Yes, I do think that this is important. It calls into question Shaw’s ethics, character, as well as competency
Voice of Reason says.....
to BUZZKILL
OK, good, your opinion about that is posted (and close to the top of the string so that nobody will overlook it), now please do everyone a favor and fugettaboutit.
Do you have any information about qualifications for the other "contestants?" Since this is for the school board, please offer information that will educate the public.
VoR
"night owl" and VoR,
Shaw doesn't live in the district; therefore, his application shouldn't count!
kelly - gawd i hate to bring up his name again -- didn't live in the district when he was appointed. he moved after the appointment, so residency isn't a disqualification or we wudn;t have had six yrs of him to try and recover. qualifications? none of em wud be on the skool bored. as for eugene, he was a prison correc tional officer who used race to force this way to the top and then when the state finally got round to reading his applictaion, found he wasn't who he sed he was, and retired before they may have canned him. he does manage to use race for about eveyrhting. smiley was dep super for a while and probably is best qualified. dick hancock at least can read the budget. bet here is gabriel will get it. she has nancy argenziano's ear.
To Fiscal Conservative - I am totally with you. Let Yancey run the deal with a volunteer board of creative and dedicated parents, citizens, etc. I guarentee you would see a huge difference in our Public Schools. Maybe then we would get back to the basics like reading, writing...not to mention the money that would be put back in our classrooms. It works in other states, why not Florida too?
On another note; it bothers me that Mr. Shaw would give up a portion of his salary for home schooling? If he were an elected memeber of the PUBLIC school system, what good would he be if he is leaning towards home schooling? Doesn't make sense to me.
Don't know enough about Shaw and plan to find out, however, when an attorney can't follow the law (and excuse me, but how hard is it to file your papers on time), that scares me. You expect students to follow by rules, when your School Board does not? Ask the present members of our School Board why their attorney was replaced. Was it because she failed to follow the law?
Voice of Reason says.........
Anybody know about Gabriel? What does/did she do for work? Is she retired? Does she have any training or education related to education?
How about the real estate broker lady from Dunnellon? She has to be the last in line.
Jugghead Davis? Talk about no community involvement - I can't find anybody who knows anything about him other than he kicked a ball at college. I would guess that he would use the taxpayers money for more football stadiums at public schools on the taxpayers' dime.
Deputy Superintendent of Schools would hardly make Fred Wily most qualified. Did Wily cut budgets or simply use the excuse that schools aren't excellent because they don't have enough money? Does anyone have any record of outstanding performance by Fred Wily? My thought would be that hanging around the system, playing the game and getting affirmative actioned into a dep. superintendent position is exactly the wrong behavior we want from our government leaders. Plus, I seriously doubt that he is a Republican.
VoR
Voice of Reason says.........
Dear Fiscal Conservative and 8:56 Anon, I think that Shaw (by returning 20% of the taxpayers money to teachers and homeschool efforts) shows that he puts his money where his mouth is on those issues.
Shaw was saying that he would put for a vote a 20% reduction in school board salaries but he didn't think that the other "fiscal conservatives" like Ron Awful and Steve Lemming would even give that consideration. So, as a LEADER he would voluntarily give 20% of his salary to conservative causes like homeschooling choice and pay shifting from administrators to teachers. Homeschooling is about taxpayers keeping their money and their control of their child's education. That's a conservative value lest everyone forget.
VoR
I would have to go with Pat Gabriel. Her experience and connections on 200 and elsewhere about growth planning and respect she has from those who have worked with her, would put me on her side. Also, I think the fact that Nancy Argenziano supports her, if that is so, will make her a pretty confirmed choice by the Governor.
shaw prolly change his mind when he finds out he can not legally refuse to accept his pay. others have tried from time to time. he could makle a charitable donation but wiould have to pay taxes on it, and others have given up on the idea. pwf once wrote about skool bored salaries. seems like florida pays more thn almost any state. fla retirement for skool bored members is almost doubt percentagewise what skool teachers get and skool bored members dont even have to have an eductaion. once had one gop rec committee member serving with only a ged. she was the best of the bunch too! last i heard gabriel was selling ads for st pete times.
If anyone is interested in finding out more facts about the candidates, suggest you initiate a public records request from the Governor's office for the candidates' applications.
At a minimum (if you don't want all the paperwork), ask them to copy and provide you with the candidates' responses to question #17 on page 4 of the application. That outlines the candidates' qualifications for the school board position. Probably the most important item in the 14-15 pages of the application.
My choice would be Hancock, Gabriel or Shaw.
Nancy....Sorry...no teehee..to tired to teehee.
I'm with Nancy S. Anyone of these three people would be a very good choice. Most certainly, better than what we have in Kelly!
I think Gabriel and Hancock are too old. No disrespect, but the county and school board needs more young people who have children to take a more active role in government. Also, I don't believe Shaw has any children. That is already an issue with a certain part of our school board. I'm going to find out more about Judd Davis.
Pat Gabrial has a Personel Agenda and was hand picked by Kurt Kelly, Dick Hancock is a plant!
What is Gabriel's agenda? I really doubt Kurt Kelly has anything to say or do about Pat getting appointed. She has a much better person on her side (who has the Guv's ear) in Nancy Argenziano. A reference from Kurt Kelly will be about as influential with the Guv as a letter from Ron Crawford asking him to appoint a minority.
Doubt Hancock is a plant for anyone. However, if I were on Hancock's board, where he is currently employed, I'd sure ask him to resign if he gets on the School Board. The conflict with the type of job he holds is just not appropriate.
Ummmm....I predict Bobby James.
Nancy Stacy
He isn't on the list!
Oh I saw he had sent his paperwork in?? I know he wasn't in the area BUT that is easily taken care of. I assumed he could fix that as they all do.
Sorry
Nancy
Things that were easily taken care of in the Bush administration are not as easily taken care of in the new era of the People's Governor.
Blogmaster - perfect on your constitution quiz. Wish there was a way to keep track and see what the scores are. Nice addition to the Blog and everyone have a wonderful Fourth!
--pwf
I'm still waiting to hear what Pat Gabriel's personal agenda is.
Voice of Reason says.....
Pat Gabriel's personal agenda? First, she will divert public school funds to adult education. Seniors are always complaining about paying taxes for kids' education when they have already raised kids.
Second, she will constantly grandstand and raise controversial issues - not to solve problems facing public education - but to rally support from the "200 Coalition" for her future run for other offices.
Third, she will easily usurp all authority on the board by mother-goosing-in the weak Steve Lemming and Ron Awful. With 3 of 5 votes, she will completely have her way on the board. You will soon see public school money going for adult education and supporting projects along the 200 Coalition enclaves.
If one of the "minorities" happens to get her ear, you will soon see Midnight Shuffleboard.
VoR
Voice of Reason says.......
I think that this thread proves that even the most aware constituents don't know much about the pool of School Board candidates. The general public even knows less.
I had hope for this thread but there seems to be very little that we know about the applicants.
VoR
The issue is not lack of information on the candidates. The issue is no one really cares who gets appointed because they know these positions are not that important in the great scheme of local politics. The Superintendent and his staff and the State Education Department really are the big influencers of education, not five flunkys on a school board.
It would be most educational for peoople to understand that the school board has only very limited reponsibility and even less authority. Even the previous occupant found it difficult to accomplish anything, else he would have told about it. Adult education might pay off. --pwf
Well the Puffer is back in all his glory and still taking those never ending potshots at Kelly. Kurt Kelly is now the State Representative for District 24.
Get over it!
Yep. He is the State Rep. until November 2008.
Face it of ya'll (Ferguson, Crawford, and Herring) dudes, Kelly won!
Please go take your need meds, and mellow out.
Yep. He is the State Rep. until November 2008.
And that's a fact.... TEE HEE
I'm fully medicated...Good night!!!
Courageous, interesting how truth is spun by you to be a potshot. Hopefully you will get some eductaion in the enxt year or so.
Yes, I know he is rep, but as you say, the key word is "...UNTIL ..."
Maybe by then some will be able to have courage of their convictions and sign off with something better than anonymous. -- pwf
To PWF: So if you sign your name ie: Voice of Reason, Fiscal Conservative, Gunn Nutt, Night Owl, etc. etc., then are they too, lumped into your "anonymous coward" category? I could use my initials, as you do, and you still would not know who I am, so why is it so important that people "sign" their name? Technically, you don't either. (This is just a question, not an endorsement of any candidate, so please don't twist my question around accusing me of being some "lover" of which ever candidate is being bashed today).
Voice of Reason says.....
I agree with the last anonymous writer but my point would be a little different. I think that it is good that we can be anonymous because we can say what we think. Things have gotten so ultra PC that this is a good start at restoring free speech, free expression. Thankfully, we still vote anonymously and this is a good way to speak without fear of some government agency or boss taking all of our money away for saying it like it is.
VoR
Gun Nutt says...
I would add that even the participants in the Boston Tea Party Disguised themselves as Indians. Sometimes it just makes sense to remain anonymous.
Voice of Reason says.....
Gunn Nutt to the rescue. Great point. Its courageous of Creekbaum, Clayton and PWF but the anonymous and nick-named writers have their place too.
Speaking of Indians, have we sold-out to the Indian gambling lobby yet?
I found another waste of taxpayer's money - the dump again. Have you seen the buildings out there - many Marion County residents would love to live in such buildings. When I was a kid, the dump would have a little shack at the entrance where you would pay the guy. There was a scale too but just a shack for the money collector. He wasn't a wuss back then so he didn't ask his govt. union to demand air conditioning. He sat on an old chair that someone threw away at the dump. He didn't have carpal-tunnel syndrome. He didn't demand some big health care benefit package, when he needed a few extra bucks for the doctor he would put a few cash bills in his pocket that day. He was doing us all a favor - cutting the "county health care benefits office" out of the middle.
VoR
I have no problem with people speaking out. I use my initials in the blog as I did when I was wriitng my newspaper column under my byline and with my photo in it. I signed columns "pwf" but my name was at the top.
My problem comes from people who slader others without any facts -- including me sometimes -- and then hide. My comments about a candidate are backed up with provable facts and with my initials. And while there aren't many of us still around, I have been known (far too known for my family's own good) for many years.
Difference is I used to get paid for my opinions and now the blog is free.
But write on. The blog is a good thing in today's news business. As has always been the case, you have to use your own "filter" and decide what to believe. -- pwf
Puffer said;
"My comments about a candidate are backed up with provable facts and with my initials. "
if PWF's initials were to reflect his twist of the facts they would be FWP (fictional works of Paul)
just red star blunder where four kids were nailed spray painting businesses in bellview. wonder if bro kurtie boy will go appear before the judge and tell him they are just natural born leaders. at least these guys didn't have a gun.
Marion County dropped from 20th to 37th place out of 67 school districts for the 2006-2007 school year.
Same FCAT as the other school districts. Same changes that were made to the school grades as all the rest of the counties.
Marion County fell behind 17 other counties in one year. Nobody asking why? Not even the Ocala Star Banner.
Anon at 10:09 does not like my initials.
I invite him, again, to provide any distortions. He can't cause here aren't. -- still pwf
Has our Gov. appointed a School Board member yet to replace Kelly?
If it's like a lot of things (not) coming out of the governor's office lately, it could take several months. He is sitting on appointments from when he first came into office.
Guess he is too busy flying all over the country making a name for himself to do the people's business like he promised when he took office.
You might be surprised what people in the car buainess make. As PWF stated more is probably made by a auto dealer VP than one might think. I retired five years ago as the CFO for a dealer group as big as Jenkins (8 dealerships) and I was making in the mid 200s. I know Cory, not well mind you, but he is a smart young man with a good head on his shoulders. He also owns some of those dealerships and I bet when he files his financials you will find him to be worth 1-2 million.
Anyone heard who the frontrunner is for the school board seat?
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