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3 Vying For School Board Seat

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 10, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - They all have lengthy resumes filled with professional accomplishments and community involvement.

They all are interested in education.

And all three want to become the next Pasco County School Board member from District 2, a large geographic area spreading out from Land O' Lakes.

Kurt Conover of Land O' Lakes, Peter Hanzel of Wesley Chapel and Joanne Hurley of Land O' Lakes are vying to see who will succeed Marge Whaley, who is retiring after serving 16 years on the board.

Whoever wins will take office at a time when the school district faces a tight budget and a still-growing student population.

The District 2 seat is the only school board race voters will see on their ballots Aug. 26. Board Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey drew no opposition and will be sworn in for a second four-year term in November. The other three board seats will be on the ballot in 2010.

While board members must live in the district they represent, they are elected countywide and all registered voters can cast ballots in the election. School board races are nonpartisan.

Here's a look at the three candidates:

Kurt Conover

Conover has been involved in a number of activities with schools over the years, such as helping form the Denham Dads organization at Denham Oaks Elementary.

Now he's decided it was time to make an even bigger impact by running for school board.

Conover, who is director of business development at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, said there's no better investment than children, and he wants to play a role in preparing them for an economy that is now global.

He is a big believer in joint-use agreements in which the school district would share facilities such as athletic fields and libraries with the county government, city governments or other government agencies.

"I don't think there should be another school built without one of those joint agreements with the county or the city," he said.

Conover said his interest in joint use goes back to the 1970s when he was parks and recreation director for the city of New Port Richey, a job he took when he was 22. He helped start a wheelchair basketball league and approached principals about working out an agreement to use school gyms.

That worked out initially, he said, but eventually his plan fell through when a principal complained about scuff marks on the gym floor.

Conover said he strongly supports career academies, which are programs that are being started in high schools that allow students to earn certification in a trade while working on their high school diplomas.

When industry representatives explore bringing their companies to Pasco County, they want to know whether there is an educated work force, Conover said.

Many students never go to college or don't finish college, so alternative training provided by career academies helps develop the educated work force that industry is seeking, he said.

Conover said one area of the school district he would work to improve "from top to bottom" is communications.

"I think communication is a critical piece of any operation," he said.

In these days of tight budget, Conover said the district should find ways to reward employees who help schools save money.

He said Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point offers incentives to employees who come up with cost-saving ideas. Conover suggested the school district should develop such an incentive program.

The school district also should explore ways to pool more resources with other government agencies as a money-saving effort. One possibility, he said, would be to work out an agreement with the sheriff's office to share auto mechanics.

Conover also is concerned about childhood obesity. He said schools could modify the curriculum to work more health lessons into other areas. For example, when students are being taught reading they could read about health topics, he said.

This isn't the first time Conover has run for public office, but only those with long political memories would recall seeing his name on a ballot.

Conover lost a bid for county commission in the 1970s.

Peter Hanzel

Hanzel has a background in education, though it's somewhat unusual. He worked for 25 years for the U.S. Department of Justice and retired as supervisor of education at a federal prison.

His work with the department's Bureau of Prisons helped establish his view that public schools need strong vocational education programs.

When he began working in prisons, inmates often already had plumbing, electrical, mechanical or other skills that could translate into a trade.

That changed over time, though. Around 1990 he began to notice that fewer inmates arriving in the prisons possessed any trade skills.

When he was working at the prison in Texarkana, Texas, he helped institute several vocational programs, such as welding, auto mechanics and small engine repair

Pasco's main vocational programs take place at Marchman Technical Education Center in New Port Richey. Students from high schools in west Pasco are bused to Marchman for classes in such fields as cosmetology, auto mechanics and veterinary technology.

Hanzel would like to see similar vocational schools built in central and east Pasco County, so high school students from those parts of the county also could participate in the vocational programs.

Hanzel has other priorities as well.

He said the school board needs an attendance policy and board members who regularly miss meetings should face repercussions, such as a partial withholding of pay.

He also wants to see board meetings televised to get the public more involved in what's happening with the school district.

Hanzel is an Army veteran and also served in the National Guard and the Army Reserve. It was Hanzel who suggested to the school board the name Veterans Elementary for a new school opening this month in Wesley Chapel.

Current board members often favor geography when naming new schools, preferring in many cases to go with a name that specifies a community, street or landmark to help people locate the school.

Hanzel said he would prefer to name schools after people, especially veterans.

His military background also is inspiration for one of his other goals. Hanzel would like to see Junior ROTC programs at all high schools in Pasco County. Seven of the 11 high schools have the programs.

School security is another important issue for Hanzel. High schools, middle schools and some elementary schools use deputies from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office or officers from local police departments as school resource officers.

Hanzel said he would like to see the school district have its own security team, rather than contracting with the law enforcement agencies. He said some school districts - such as in Dallas - have their own security departments.

In facing the need to cut the budget, as the current board is doing, Hanzel said travel, including out-of-state recruiting trips to hire teachers, is one area he would focus on.

The board needs to eye the contracts it approves more closely to make sure the money is being well spent, he said.

He wouldn't cut everywhere, though. "I'm always going to maintain teacher and staff salaries," Hanzel said.

Joanne Hurley

Hurley says she would be well prepared to listen to complaints or suggestions about the school district.

She works for Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, where as community relations coordinator she handled calls from irate residents who were unhappy with highway plans.

Hurley said she tries to listen to the complaints with an ear toward figuring out what the person truly wants, then determining whether there's a way to accommodate them or ease their concerns.

As a school board member, Hurley said her top priority would be to decrease the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate.

"We cannot continue to have as many dropouts as we do in the state of Florida, including Pasco County," she said.

One of the things the district is doing right on that front is establishing career academies in high schools, Hurley said. The academies allow students to earn certification in a trade at the same time they are working on their diploma.

Hurley's said another priority is growth. She said the district must perform a balancing act as it builds new schools - filled with new equipment - while making sure the older schools aren't left behind.

"Most people don't realize how tough it is to keep up with growth and make sure we have equity for the older schools," she said.

Hurley's third priority is accountability with the budget and trying to do more with less.

She said she sees other ways to improve the district as well. The best schools in the nation are those that are small, Hurley said.

She would like to see the district build smaller schools and more neighborhood schools that allow students to walk, though she acknowledged smaller schools might not be practical right now with Pasco's continued growth and crowded schools.

Hurley gave a short, one-sentence answer as her reason for wanting to serve on the school board.

"I want my last job to be my best job," she said.

Hurley, who has worked as an elementary school teacher and as a school drug-prevention specialist, noted that Whaley is the lone member on the board who has experience working with schools. Whaley is a former student services employee with the district who helped start Pasco's school nurse program.

"I saw a need to replace a wonderful board member with someone else who has school experience," Hurley said.

Hurley has won Whaley's support and she is happy to have it. Hurley said she admires Whaley and has found during her campaigning efforts that a lot of voters do as well.

Hurley also garnered the support of Tiger Pride, the political action arm of United School Employees of Pasco, the union that represents teachers and other school district workers.

Hurley said she believes she was able to get the union's endorsement because she told them she might not always agree with the union, but she would listen to its concerns.

She said that doesn't mean the union would always be pleased with her votes.

"You can't please everybody," she said. "You have to set priorities. Take a look at the budget picture and make the best decision for the educational process."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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