School Board District 3 candidates sound off

Charles Conoley

Age: 57

Occupation: Senior vice president for Florida Capital Bank

Hometown: Columbus, Ind.

Family: Wife, Josie, and four grown children.

About: A 28-year Manatee County resident, Charles Conoley has 35 years of progressive banking experience. He holds a master’s of business administration in finance and accounting.

Several schools are at or over capacity. How can you as a board member have an impact?

While several schools are over capacity, we also have a good deal of slack capacity throughout the school system. With school choice we need to make many of these schools more attractive to students and parents by putting in facility and technology up-grades and attracting and retaining good teachers. At the same time in certain geographic areas we will need to plan and budget for some new school construction.

These objectives can only be successfully achieved if the School Board exercises sound financial management and oversight of the School System budget and this is the primary reason why I am running for this office, as I believe my education and experience as a seasoned financial professional are needed on the School Board to accomplish this mission.

Do you think elementary schools need school resource officers or should staff handle that? Why/not?

Normally I would not think a resource officer should be housed in an elementary school but on a case-by-case basis it might be prudent.

Manatee County Schools got a mixed bag for grades this year? How do you think manatee county schools are performing academically?

I am very concerned with the negative direction of the grades for many of our schools. Over the past four years it appears that performance is sliding as indicated by the State of Florida grading system.

If the half-cent sales tax is renewed, are there specific needs you believe it should be used to address? What are they? 

The sales tax is for capital projects. Part of the sales tax revenue will continue to support bonds in place for past capital projects but approval of the sales tax extension would allow those bonds to be re-financed at a lower rate of interest. Effective management of the sales tax is needed to match the school systems strategic plan and budgeting to include future school construction but also to maintain and up-grade existing facilities to include advances in technology for the classroom. We might also find it more cost effective to expand certain existing schools instead of new school construction.

In your opinion, what are the other top three issues the district faces?

The School Board needs to get back to its two core mission items. A.) Hire and oversee the school superintendent and most importantly, B.) Financial oversight and management of the school system budget. The three issues are the same as they have always been for the School Board: First, provide a consistent and positive education experience for our students. Second: Attract and retain good teachers and other employees necessary to provide this effective education system, And third: Manage and effectively utilize the tax revenue to provide quality education, protect public assets (school property) and treat employees fairly economically while maintaining a sound budget so that future promises for pensions and healthcare can be honored. It must be understood that tax payers expect value

for their dollars and that tax revenue is a finite item.

Dave Miner

Age: 70

Occupation: Attorney

Hometown: Bradenton

Family: Married; one daughter and one son

About: David Miner is an attorney and Vietnam veteran, who has served on the school board since 2012. He currently also serves as president of the Anna Maria Island Kiwanis Club and as vice chairman of the Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition, which represents the families of more than 1 million students.

Several schools are at or over capacity. How can you as a board member have an impact?

To address the over-capacity, as a board member, I continue to support Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene’s long-range plan which includes first building a new high school in the Parrish area and then a new elementary and middle school in west Manatee County. Her plan also includes rebuilding obsolete schools — e.g. Oneco Elementary — and combining some schools under-capacity on the elementary level.

As a board member, I was instrumental in requiring that use of funds from sales tax and impact fees be subject to review by the dDistrict’s audit committee, consisting exclusively of C.P.A.’s who are already drafting checks and balance procedures regarding use and receipt of the funds.

Do you think elementary schools need school resource officers or should staff handle that? Why/not?

I continue to support the presence of law enforcement officers in our elementary school to provide education, good role modeling, and safety.

Manatee County Schools got a mixed bag for grades this year? How do you think Manatee County Schools are performing academically?

We are progressing. Dr. Greene is leading us on the right path. Our graduation rate has climbed significantly over the past five years, and a large majority of our Title 1 schools increased a grade this past year. We have the best technical college in the nation – award winning Manatee Technical College. The biggest story about our academics is our “Reading on Grade Level” Campaign, which the District has partnered with the United Way and other agencies for preparing students for entering school, providingsummer educational activities for students to reduce or eliminate the “education slide” that significantly affects students in Title I schools and making every effort to have students daily attend their classes — the “Every Day Counts” campaign.

Our District’s “Reading on Grade Level” Campaign has garnered nationwide attention and applause.

If the half-cent sales tax is renewed, are there specific needs you believe it should be used to address? What are they?

Extending the sales tax will help address the needs, including delayed maintenance and use of portables, in our established schools; help replace antiquated out-of-date computer management systems; help pay for new schools and buses; and fund other necessary capital needs.

In your opinion, what are the other top three issues the district faces?

Meeting the school capacity needs arising from our district’s growth; providing the employment incentives for recruiting and retaining top employees (particularly teachers ); continuing our progress in increasing the success of our academic programs and graduation rates.

Misty Servia

Age: 52

Occupation: Certified planner

Hometown: Sarasota

Family: Husband (Joaquin) and three children: Alexandra (19), Joaquin (17), Marc (15)

About: Servia is parent of three Manatee public school children and has been involved on more than 10 boards and groups during 28 years. These include Leadership Manatee Board of Governors, Take Stock in Children, Manatee County Housing Authority, PACE Center for Girls, and others.

Several schools are at or over capacity. How can you as a board member have an impact?

We must continue to work on ensuring all of our schools are of high quality, so that school choice helps to “even out” what can sometimes seem like unequal capacity patterns throughout the county. We need to ensure our schools with low capacity are run in a way that helps them attract students from other parts of the district where schools are over capacity. One way is to offer special programs at the lower capacity schools. This dilemma is also why I strongly support the renewal of the half-cent sales tax. We need a new high school in Parrish, and several other schools need expansion or upgrading. We will face a major shortfall without the continuation of the half cent for infrastructure.

Do you think elementary schools need school resource officers or should staff handle that? Why/not?

Our elementary schools definitely need school resource officers. Teachers should not be left to fulfill the role of classroom security in addition to all of their other classroom demands. In addition, in today’s highly litigious society, it is risky to leave teachers having to physically interact with students at all. Unfortunately, in this day and age, school resource officers are an essential need. Resource officers also help to build a positive perception of police officers with our young children.

Manatee County Schools got a mixed bag for grades this year? How do you think manatee county schools are performing academically?

No doubt, our public schools can do better, which is one of the main reasons I’m running. My incumbent opponent believes we should “continue the progress,” but, unfortunately, we aren’t seeing progress in the district’s overall grade. We can and should do better.

If the half-cent sales tax is renewed, are there specific needs you believe it should be used to address? What are they? 

I believe all proposed projects should be listed for the public to see so there is transparency in the spending. A top priority must be a new high school in Parrish, which will cost approximately 80 million dollars. Impact fees alone can’t get it done.

We also have many schools that need renovations and improvements, which are costly and important. And finally, we need to put in better technology infrastructure in some of our older schools, to ensure that our children are learning in good 21st century classrooms, so they don’t fall behind.

In your opinion, what are the other top three issues the district faces?

My beliefs on this have been consistent throughout my campaign:

First and foremost, our School Board needs to rebuild broken trust between itself and the community – by making better decisions, listening more carefully, and showing a greater awareness and respect for the public’s time and input. Rebuilding trust also means building on the financial accountability improvements undertaken throughout the past year, and doing even more to ensure we are saving all that we can (without hurting our classrooms) while constantly seeking to make the smartest possible spending decisions.

Second, we need to end our district’s over-reliance on high-stakes standardized testing. I began to make this point long before our district encountered this issue directly just a few months ago, when several students and families were forced to fight not only local officials, but state officials, for students’; rights to be judged on their overall school portfolio, rather than on tests alone. I will continue this work, diligently, at the local and state level.

Third, we need to find better ways to recruit and retain great teachers. We can start by being a leader in standing up against senseless state laws like the “best and brightest” program, which funneled $89 million total over the past two years toward scholarships that award teachers for test scores.