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REBECCA CATALANELLOMarge Whaley, Ryan O'Reilly and Patricia Murphy share their views on how to represent District 2.
Marge Whaley wants to contribute stability. Ryan O'Reilly hopes to bring change. Patricia Murphy wants to give back.
The three candidates in the nonpartisan race to represent central Pasco County's fast-growing School Board District 2 want to accomplish very different goals if elected Tuesday.
For Whaley, the 12-year incumbent who worked 16 years as a Pasco County school administrator, the decision to pursue a fourth term came mainly because she knew change was afoot.
A new superintendent will succeed John Long when he leaves the district in November. And Pam Coulter, the District 4 board member, is leaving.
"I'm running because John's retiring," said Whaley, a professional speaker and retired nurse. "When I started hearing about Heather (Fiorentino running), I realized how bad it would be."
Fiorentino, a state legislator from New Port Richey, faces administration favorite chief financial officer Chuck Rushe for the superintendent job in Tuesday's Republican primary. If Fiorentino wins, the relatively consistent leadership that has existed in Pasco's schools for the past 30 years is likely to shift.
Whaley, 63, said she has unfinished business as well. She wants to expand the International Baccalaureate intensive college preparatory program to another high school. She plans to work on opening an alternative school in the central part of the county.
O'Reilly, 23, of Wesley Chapel thinks a leadership shift is in order. He wants the district to pay more attention to vocational education and says many of the courses now are "fluff courses" for student s with behavioral problems. A substitute teacher in Pasco County for less than a year, O'Reilly wants to see a greater emphasis on discipline. And he thinks children should be given healthy choices in the lunch line and in snack machines.
O'Reilly received his bachelor's degree in political science from Saint Leo University last year. He became a vocal opponent of the Penny for Pasco tax initiative on the principle that he thought the district wasn't using its money wisely. He thinks covered walkways at schools are a waste of money.
Patricia Murphy, 35, said she decided to run for the office because she wanted to give of her time in some way. A five-year resident of Land O'Lakes who grew up in Tarpon Springs, Murphy gravitated toward the School Board seat after hearing about district needs during the Penny for Pasco campaign.
"Why not?" she said when asked why she was running.
Murphy, who holds a master's in business administration from Saint Leo University, said she wants the district to look at building facilities on existing campuses while renovating the old ones - an arrangement that she thinks could save on busing costs and land-purchasing expenses.
"We're growing like some kind of martian," she said of the fact that more than 2,000 students join the district every year.
Murphy thinks schools need stricter disciplinary tactics. "You can write policy, but without enforcement, what is there?"
Unless one of the three candidates receives more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, there will be a runoff between the two top vote-getters Nov. 2.