It was a good night...on to round two!

Thanks to all who supported and voted for Susan Valdes and Stephen Gorham for school board.

Susan Valdes won her seat easily and Stephen Gorham is in a run-off. The night ended exactly the way I knew it would and I feel very comfortable with where we are at right now.

Read the St. Pete Times article here.

On to round two where the work begins again. Real change is going to require real work.

If you are interested in helping email info@stephengorham.com and let him know you read about him on sound off and be heard.

Vote!

Tomorrow is election day. Don't forget to vote! Also, get your family, friends, and co-workers to vote.

If you want change then this is how you can have a voice.

I support Susan Valdes and Stephen Gorham for positive change.

I hate to say "I told you so", but...

...I told you so.

The following comment was posted on another topic and I thought it deserved it's own thread.
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Re: Bus fiasco.I may be a little shaky on this, but if memory serves me right…A former bus driver led the problem-plagued transportation office and the Boss was very reluctant to demote with pay loss. I think she created a job for him for a little less $. The $350,000 to $500,000 “consultant” payoff results in the rudimentary suggestions of parking the buses in more centralized areas and buying software. Thanks for all of the help! As if that was not enough, my guess is that transportation has probably a half-dozen supervisors that make $100,000 or more a year. Great work! I wonder if the media will be blamed like they were during the Good Friday fiasco?After quite a while searching the newspapers of the larger districts nation-wide and the rest of the large districts in Florida, it seems that only Hillsborough is not “up to their usual standards”. We must be suffering from some malady that no one else on planet Earth is dealing with, such as parent meetings about changes and lightning strikes twenty days ago. Those excuses are pathetic.The fun has only begun. MaryEllen
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When I ran for office I said that I would be an agent for change. I questioned the hiring policies that simply moved educators into business-oriented jobs without making sure they had the proper skills. I pointed to the facilities and transportation departments as examples.

Back when we started this transportation re-org everyone had to re-apply for their job. I insisted on a nation wide search to replace the person in charge of that division who was responsible for losing the district millions of dollars and creating the mess we were in.

After finding someone from outside the school district the superintendent then recommended the person who had previously been in charge for the number two position. I was the sole vote against that recommendation. I did not believe at the time someone being demoted would want their replacement to succeed and felt the person we had hired to take on an awesome responsibility should hire his own staff. And now it looks as if I was right.

I have received information that has led me to the opinion that the current busing fiasco is at least partly attributable to this individual and as of Friday has left the district.

State revenue going down...again

Even more state spending cuts may loom after Florida economists update their revenue estimates for the current and future budget years.

$1.6 billion to $1.8 billion less than previously expected for the current budget year that began July 1. For the next budget year, the preliminary numbers are about $2 billion less.

The economists have repeatedly reduced their revenue forecasts over the past two years because Florida's economy has been sinking faster and deeper than they'd expected.
As a result, state spending has been cut by $6 billion over the past year and the new estimate could mean more reductions.

Gov. Charlie Crist asked state agencies to hold back spending by 4 percent.

What do you think of schools?

According to a study by by Education Next magazine and Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance only 24 percent of black adults give their local public schools an A or B grade, compared to 44 percent of whites and 39 percent of Hispanics.

I don't know how to take this study. When I look at the national polls this presidential election cycle education is not even on the list of American's priorities. Fuel prices, the recession, the war, and other fiscal concerns top the list.

It seems to me that people are not even pretending to care about education as they have in the past. We have got to get our priorities straight.

This is what they want you to forget

As this political cycle has developed into a particularly nasty event I wanted to remind everyone of what we are doing and why they don't want us to keep doing it.

Below I am going to paste just a few reminders of circumstances where we are challenging the status quo on with the ultimate goal of changing the culture of the Hillsborough County School District. I know there are some that feel the entire board is a rubber stamp for the administration, but I am no body's patsy and I am going to continue asking questions and pushing for real change, whether they like it or not. When you don't hear me making noise it doesn't mean I am not fighting. I sometimes have to get people in the community motivated on certain issues behind the scenes and then we will rise up and fight when we have more power in numbers.

No bid contracts

Compilation of information on no bid contracts

I endorse Stephen Gorham *see post below for more details

Uncomfortable conversations

I WILL NOT go along to get along My mom used to say "if it feels wrong it is wrong" and if the conversation makes you uncomfortable maybe you should assess what is making you feel that way.

District hiring needs to be addressed

Superintendent Evaluation

There is still much work that needs to be done...much. However, I can not deny improvements that have been made in certain areas that I noted the superintendent needed to work on in my 2006/2007 evaluation.

Read Tribune article here.