Mitch PerryThe Hillsborough County School Board’s unceremonious dumping of Superintendent MaryEllen Elia reverberates three days after the fact.
In today’s Times, Ernest Hooper bemoans the fact that Sally Harris, the swing vote that went against Elia on Tuesday night leading to her ouster, beat big-time establishment pick Michelle Shimberg in the District 2 race last November, and wonders what might have been if some of her big-name supporters had posited that election as a referendum on Elia’s future.
Except the campaign wasn’t really run like that. Nearly every candidate during the last School Board race was asked if they wanted to keep Elia around; many danced around the question and wouldn’t say outright where they were going. Some were more critical. The mood at some of these events made it almost seem unpopular to come out in support of the superintendent, actually. It definitely was not a love fest for Elia on the campaign trail. But not one race, not even April Griffin vs. Dipa Shah, was posited as a proxy vote for or against Elia. (And Griffin swamped Shah during the election, for what that’s worth.)
To be fair, not too many thought that such a vote on Elia’s future would happen this quickly. Just three weeks ago Patrick Manteiga broke the news that the board would be taking a no-confidence vote on Elia soon. Ten days later, Janelle Irwin was the first to report that it would be a straight up and down vote on her contract.
Speaking of Manteiga, the La Gaceta editor/publisher/columnist was the dominant media voice backing the board’s efforts to oust Elia, and he remains in fighting form this morning, three days after the vote. For those who believe that the community is now broken because of all the work that Elia has accomplished over the last decade, Manteiga provides statistics showing that Hillsborough County is last of all school districts in the Tampa Bay area in graduation rates. (Sorry, no link. One of these years, Patrick?), trailing Sarasota, Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas and Manatee, as well as below Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Orange, Broward and Duval counties. He writes:
These counties beat us without a $100 million Gates grant to spend on teacher training. How do the Times, Tribune and her supporters explain that?
The Tampa Tribune’s letters to the editor present a mixed bag on the vote as well. Yes, some citizens are aghast at what the board did, but others support the ouster. A favorite letter comes from one Alyssa Governable, who writes, “Politics has no place in education.”
Then why do we vote on School Board candidates, Alyssa?
In other news…
A week ago Bob Buckhorn could have automatically qualified for four more years as it appeared that he would run unopposed in his bid for re-election. And then write-in candidate Jose Vazquez intervened. Read more about this unconventional candidate here.
Remember the days when it was just Democrats who were pissed off at Duke Energy and the Florida Public Service Commission? Critics are skeptical going into the March session, but Seminole House member Larry Ahern became the latest member of the Pinellas GOP delegation yesterday to call for energy policy reform. Ahern has filed a bill that would repeal the controversial 2006 nuclear cost recovery fee that has left Progress/Duke Energy on the hook for millions of dollars for nuclear plants that will never be built.
Hillsborough County Superintendent MaryEllen Elia may soon be gone but she won’t be forgotten. Yesterday the Hillsborough County Commission honored her for winning the state superintendent of the year award last year, while she figures out where she’ll get her next gig.
