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Gorham, Valdes Are Best Choices For Hillsborough School Board

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 2, 2008

In this year's school board races, voters have an easy choice and a frustrating one.

The easy choice comes in the countywide race between incumbent Carol Kurdell and challengers Stephen Gorham and Jason Mims. Kurdell has been on the board too long. She would not make a difference in yet another term. She's become the poster child for why term limits are needed on the school board.

The frustrating choice comes in District 1, where incumbent Susan Valdes faces challenger Dave Schmidt, a school district employee who runs the adult education program for refugees. Voters lack a strong choice in this uninspired contest.

Valdes, 43, promised to be a maverick on the board, but she's been awkward and disappointing in her first term. Rather than show fiscal discipline, she's traveled hither and yon, racking up more than $50,000 in travel expenses. More recently, she had to reimburse the district more than $400 for private calls made to her best friend, fellow board member April Griffin, on a district-issued cell phone.

Some of those calls took place after Griffin was elected in November 2006, creating the appearance that Valdes has violated Florida's government-in-the-sunshine law. She denies it, but should do much more to manage the perception.

Her travels and calls to Griffin show poor judgment. It's also disappointing that Valdes blames others for her poor choices, hardly a good role model for the communities she seeks to serve.

Despite her foibles, Valdes passionately represents constituents on the western side of the county. She stood with families treated shabbily when school boundaries were redrawn. And unlike several of her colleagues, Valdes understands she is there to represent parents and students, not just administrators.

Schmidt, 59, is an unimpressive candidate. It's unclear what motivates him, other than vague assertions of being for student achievement, ethical governance and financial management. Who isn't?

When pressed, Schmidt says the school district is running fine, and there's little need to rock the boat. In one recent debate, he bragged about getting a $500 campaign contribution from Superintendent MaryEllen Elia's husband whom, Schmidt said, called to praise him.

The board doesn't need more go-along-to-get-along members. Schmidt would only raise that number by one.

The onus is on Valdes to clean up her act and restore her credibility. The families she represents deserve a school board member who is above reproach.

In the District 1 school board race, the Tribune endorses Susan Valdes.

In the countywide District 7 race, Kurdell's unenergetic approach and rubber-stamping oversight are easily surpassed by Gorham's vision for a more focused school board, one that regularly dissects the county's dismal graduation rate and tracks its progress.

Kurdell, 63, has been on the board since 1992 and says her work at the district is unfinished. Yet when pressed to recall a vote where she challenged the status quo, she had to go all the way back to 1995 - her first term - for an example.

The third candidate, community volunteer Jason Mims, is sincere about improving student achievement and has made great volunteer efforts to help connect inner-city students with colleges. Still, Mims has too narrowly limited his message to "read a good book."

Gorham, 29, is the director of networks and telecommunications at Hillsborough Community College, which gives him a solid foundation for understanding the inner workings of educational institutions. He also would bring a skeptical eye to matters, including lucrative consulting contracts approved by the board.

He wants to see the board more active in addressing graduation rates and vocational programs for students not college-bound. He would get those conversations rolling.

In the District 7 race, the Tribune endorses Stephen Gorham.

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