Election 2014: Mary Cantrell: Manatee School Board, District 5

EAST COUNTY — As Mary Cantrell sits in her living room, she crosses her legs, leans on the arm of her chair and speaks with the calmness of a teacher reading to a student.

But when she talks about her work at Manatee Technical Institute, where she served as director from December 1996 until June, when her contract with the school district was terminated, her tone and look goes from casual to fiercely confident.

Cantrell, 70, took a flailing MTI program and helped grow it from one campus with 500 students to four campuses with a total of 10,000 students. MTI students have won more SkillsUSA awards each year for the last decade than any other school at the competition.

“I think I did a good job,” she said, straightening in her seat.

Cantrell’s story is one peppered with heartache — her mother abandoned her twice, first dropping her and her three siblings at an orphanage shortly after her father died, and again when she was entering eighth grade because she was “too much trouble” after her older siblings had grown up and moved out of the house.

But Cantrell credits the success she’s seen in life — graduating from high school as a junior, attending college and her career in education — to her first-grade teacher, Mrs. Wickersham.

“She was one of those teachers you knew she loved you and you felt like she loved you more than anyone else,” said Cantrell, who went from teaching middle school and high school students to adults, before becoming an administrator. “She convinced me I was smart. I was worthy.”

Cantrell, who rents a home in Lakewood Ranch, now seeks to oust incumbent Julie Aranibar from her District 5 School Board seat. She aims to cultivate a new culture at the school district and boost morale among teachers and administrators.

Cantrell rattles off examples, including one of a 30-year human resources employee who was terminated for lacking the appropriate skill set and marched out of the office, and then was asked to return to work for 100 more days.

“For this school district to become a great school district, firing does not build a core of people who feel valued,” Cantrell said. “There’s a climate of fear and intimidation.”

“People have a perception right now that their voices aren’t being heard,” she said. “If people have a perception, that perception becomes a reality. I do think it’s time to heal.”

The school board also needs to listen to parents and work together better, she said.

At MTI, Cantrell served as a hands-on leader, she said, staying late for events, helping clean up or doing whatever tasks were needed.

Cantrell notes that kindergarten through 12th grade years are the only time public education is free.

School districts, and their teachers, then, need to properly educate students, making sure they have solid foundations as they progress through school.

“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse,” Cantrell said. “There’s no status quo.”

She believes the school district’s job is to support teachers so students can flourish.

“The real stuff happens at the school,” she said. “Manatee district schools and people matter to me. I think I can make a difference on the board.”

Cantrell, who said she’s either been “a change agent or the fair-haired child” wherever she’s worked, said she isn’t running for the school board because she was fired. She said she sees areas the district can improve upon — and she can fix them.

“If you see something you don’t like, what do you do about it?” she said. “Walk away? I don’t know how to walk away.”

Mary Cantrell
Age: 70

Why education? “I dreamed of becoming a teacher ever since I was in first grade. When you help a student understand a concept, you can change that student’s life.”

Résumé: Former Pinellas County Schools teacher; director of adult education for Osceola School District; and director of Manatee Technical Institute from December 1996 to June 2014.

Hobbies: Sudoku, puzzles, reading

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].