Four vie for school board District 6 seat

Candidates for Hillsborough School Board District 6 want to guide the school system - one of the most closely-watched in the nation - as it tackles class size restrictions, a $42 million budget shortfall and a whole new way of teaching.

April Griffin, who has held the countywide seat the past four years, says she already has the experience of holding the district accountable and balancing a $3.1 billion budget without laying off teachers.

She supports smaller class sizes for core subjects such as English and math, but she doesn't want that focus to take away from career and technical programs that prepare students for paths other than college.

She helped start reforms funded, in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and wants to see through those changes, especially new evaluations for teachers of gifted or special needs students and others whose success can't easily be measured by test scores.

One of Benjamin Fink's two children attends public school, so he understand the need to hold teachers accountable.

But the son of two retired schoolteachers said he wants to make sure teachers have the support they need from the district.

With his computer expertise, he wants to improve the district's data collection and storage and create online communications that better involve families with the school system.

Sally Harris, a career educator, also likes the Gates plan and its focus on mentoring, but she wants the district to involve parents in the process.

She also wants to bolster vocational programs, especially in an economy where some families won't be able to afford college.

As a business owner, she said she understands the board must make tough decisions and live with them.

Instead of selling her preschool a few years ago, when it could have fetched millions, she kept the business and ended up losing her Culbreath Isles house and Jaguar.

Although he heads a Christian organization and has taken part in public debates concerning same-sex marriage and teen abstinence, Terry Kemple says those issues won't be his mission on the school board.

When he went before the school board earlier this year to argue schools should close on Good Friday, it wasn't about religion, Kemple said.

It was about the waste of millions of taxpayers' dollars and the concern for student safety.

He describes his main focus as improving the district's graduation rates and ensuring students are adequately prepared for college and the job market.