Seminole School Board District 4 candidates share their platforms
Three candidates competing for an open seat on the Seminole County School Board present very different priorities, ranging from providing pay raises for teachers to lessening disparities in technology available across campuses.
The winner in the Aug. 28 primary will succeed board Chairwoman Amy Lockhart, who had to resign her position because she is running for the Seminole County Commission. The candidates must live in District 4, which comprises the central part of the county, including portions of Lake Mary, Longwood and Casselberry. However, voters in the entire county are eligible to cast ballots in this race. The winner will help oversee the state’s 12th-largest district, which has 64 campuses, 66,000 students and more than 9,000 employees.
The position, one of five on Seminole’s board, pays $41,040 annually. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two finishers will go on to a runoff in the Nov. 6 general election. serve on the boards for the districts where they work.
Amy Pennock, 47, is the owner of Outsources Consulting and Forensic Accounting, who said her experience overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets will help her oversee the district’s operations. One of her priorities is making sure the district is fiscally responsible.
She’s also mother to three girls enrolled in Seminole schools — twins who attend Crystal Lake Elementary and an older daughter starting her first year at Millenium Middle this month. If elected, she said she’d be able to represent the perspective of a parent on the School Board.
Geri Wright, 71, a graduate of the former segregated Crooms High School, worked for the school district for 25 years as a teacher, assistant principal, principal and, finally, executive director of elementary education. After retiring from the district in 2012, she worked as a contract employee and volunteer with the “Great Start … Pathways to Success” program, which focuses on reading and oral language skills in children from birth until age 3.
Wright is now involved with a sorority that grants scholarships to graduating high school seniors and the League of Women Voters. She’s also active in her church. Her three children are graduates of Seminole schools. and Wright, named school safety and security as a top priority for them
For Pennock, that means making campuses more physically secure, providing access to counselors and allowing teachers to focus on students so that they can spot warning signs they may be struggling with mental health issues. To do that, she’d like to ease the burden of standardized testing, working with lawmakers on that matter.
Wright said she supported legislation approved earlier this year that provides $400 million for school safety and mental health measures and requires, among other things, that students have access to mental health counselors. For her part, she said she’d follow through to make sure Seminole followed the law, so students receive the services they need.
Other than school security, the candidates offered far different priorities.
For Agagnina, pay raises for employees who work with students the most, including teachers and bus drivers, are at the top of the list. He’d like to see teachers get increases of 2 to 3 percent each year. To fund those raises, he proposes cutting back on district-level administrative positions, canceling contracts with consultants, and ending the use of iReady, a computer-based program for children.
Inside the classroom, Agagnina said students must have access to coursework in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, but also a variety of vocational programs. The district already offers this type of coursework, he said, but students often don’t know about it because counselors are tied up with administering standardized tests or other state requirements. He also said he’d work with the school superintendent to ensure that teachers, not district-level specialists, design curricula.
Wright said she’d like to ensure students at all campuses have equal access to technology. The board is moving toward equipping all schools with STEM labs for science and math courses that include equipment like laptops and tablets.
She said she’d also like to continue the “Great Start … Pathways to Success” program, focusing on elementary schools where students are least prepared for kindergarten.
And Pennock said she’d like to revamp the lottery system used to assign slots in popular magnet programs when there is not enough room for every student who wants to attend. Her family was frustrated recently when her science-whiz daughter was denied access to the magnet program in that field at Sanford Middle School. The system, which is now random, could consider factors like teacher recommendations and applicant interviews.