I endorse Stephen Gorham for school board

The focus of my blog has changed a bit since its creation. I meant for it to be strictly a place for employees, students, and taxpayers to voice their opinions and concerns. I wanted to allow employees to post from district computers and have since been told by the school board attorney that employees are not allowed to access my blog while at work.

All of that being said the direction of this blog has shifted and I can do what I want without worrying about any of the school district rules. Hence this post about politics.

As you may already know the St. Pete times published an article in today’s paper formally announcing my endorsement of Stephen Gorham’s campaign against incumbent Carol Kurdell. And The SP Time's Sue Carlton's take on the race. I know this is going to sound trite, but I must say it. It is nothing personal against Carol Kurdell or the other candidate Jason Mims whom I consider a friend. As I was quoted in the Times article "This is not anything personal against Carol Kurdell, but just my belief in Stephen Gorham as someone who can help move this culture change forward… It's very difficult for people who have been there for a long time and have close relationships to be change agents."

Stephen Gorham is an astute candidate who be another voice for the people and will maintain a separation between himself and the administration we are bound by law to oversee. He understands the issues and the needs of this community and people are recognizing this. He has secured the endorsements of the Hillsborough Classroom Teacher’s Association, the Hillsborough School Employee Federation, and the West Central Florida Federation of Labor AFL-CIO. For the informed observer that Stephen has earned the endorsement of both represented employee unions speaks volumes. One would have never expected that these unions would not endorse a 16 year incumbent.

Since elected I have come to realize there is only so much that can be done to bring about real change given the prevalence of the insider mentality on the current board. When I was told by the superintendent after her 2007 evaluation “That’s fine you are only one of seven” it was evident to me she had not taken my evaluation in the spirit it was given and after experiencing the subsequent backlash from her allies on the board as they rallied around their superintendent, I knew I had nothing to lose by going against the grain and endorsing against an incumbent I am serving with.

Rumors abound and I have been told Carol is aware of my support of Stephen Gorham. I refuse to play the game by their rules. True to form administration rules require that everything be done in a hushed manor behind the scenes so they may have plausible deniability. I don’t want to be hypocrite and have prided myself on openness and accountability and after great deliberation decided to publicly endorse Stephen Gorham.

Contrary to rumors within the administration I did not recruit Stephen Gorham to run against Carol Kurdell. I actually tried to convince him not to run, but he has since convinced me that he is the right person to serve this community to help bring true accountability that I have been working so hard for. Together Susan Valdes, Stephen Gorham, and I will be able to continue to bring about the change that this community wants.

I am going to take a personal privilege

This is a blog for education, but I am going to take a personal privilege.

A friend of mine passed away recently and I felt compelled to write about my unexpected friendship with Ralph Hughes. I have worked for more than one candidate who was on the losing side of Ralph. He had a reputation, one that I had heard about for most of my years in local politics. You didn’t want to be on the other side of Ralph. But because of political parties that is where I found myself for many years.

That changed when Ralph saw my primary debate and called to tell me he was impressed with me and wanted to meet to discuss supporting my candidacy. Preconceived notions made me hesitant to meet with him. But at the insistence of my husband and advisors I agreed to talk to him.

During our meeting I told Ralph that whether he supported me or not he could always call and I would always listen. I told him that we would not always agree, but we could always try to change each others minds. We talked about and agreed on problems we felt existed in the school system. We talked and listened and made no promises to one another.

Ralph supported me and I won the office I sought. At first I saw Ralph as a supporter. But it didn’t take long to see him as a friend. He called to critique me, and ask how I felt about issues coming before the board. He stated his opinions and listened to mine and we debated when we didn’t agree. We had lunch and he introduced me to people he thought I could team with to make our community better. I took grief over accepting Ralph’s support. I even had people in my own party tell me to refuse his support. I have no regrets.

During one of our long debates he ended our conversation with “You know April, you have a point, I hadn’t thought of it that way”. I felt like I had just moved a mountain. But now know it wasn’t much of an accomplishment because he was a much more reasonable man than people gave him credit for.

We shared a mutual respect. I feel so very privileged to have been able to know Ralph the way I did and feel proud that I earned his friendship, a gift he didn’t give lightly.

He liked to say he was glad he was smart enough to know how dumb he really was, and always knew he could learn more. He taught me a lot. I feel a profound sense of loss, both personally and for the community. I never would have thought I would call Ralph Hughes a friend, and am honored to have been able to do so. I will miss him greatly.

No matter whether you agreed with Ralph or not I believe he was involved in politics because he truly believed he could make the world a better place.