Although the political establishment in Tampa has essentially conceded the Hillsborough County School Board District 2 race to Michelle Popp Shimberg, Michael Weston isn't buying it. The 58-year-old former IT consultant and schoolteacher hasn't raised nearly as much in campaign contributions as Shimberg (nor earned the endorsements of the Tampa Tribune and Tampa Bay Times), but he says the key to his electoral success is the composition of the district itself."It's not all about the South Tampa establishment," he told CL while visiting the paper's Ybor City offices on Tuesday. Pointing out that the district not only encompasses that voter-rich area but also Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Riverview and a slice of Brandon, he contends South Tampa is not the dominant voting bloc in the district. "And even looking at the South Tampa peninsula itself, a great portion of us who live here are not landed South Tampa gentry. There are a lot of blue-collar people living in what we call South Tampa, and I'm the candidate who appeals to them."
Whether that's accurate or not will be decided next Tuesday (former schoolteacher Sally Harris rounds out the field). But Weston has certainly been a firebrand during candidate forums this summer, railing against standardizing testing and Superintendent MaryEllen Elia's tenure in office.
"Morale among employees is at an all-time low, especially teachers," says Weston when asked why he's not so fond of Elia. He's especially critical of the deal the school district made with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009 that brought $100 million into the district, in part to have teachers evaluated. "It forces you to put on a dog and pony show whenever a district evaluator is going to be in the room," he says. "They're attempting to force you into a mold where they have this rubric of desired behaviors in a teacher."
But what about teacher accountability? "I reject that premise that teacher accountability is an issue," Weston fires back. "If we look at the factors that have an impact on a child's education success, his family income by leaps and bounds overshadows anything that happens within the school system."
Among his other passions are improving the culture of the district when it comes to dealing with students with special needs. Currently, Weston volunteers as an advocate for kids with special needs and attends their IEP (Individual Education Plan) meetings.
He says he'd like to see the district hire community liaisons in schools where parental involvement has been traditionally low, a job that would require such a liaison to reach out and communicate with parents, bringing them up to date with the child's program. "Teachers are swamped," he says, explaining why that task shouldn't be left up to instructors.
He is a strong advocate of technical and vocational training. He says when he taught at Freeman High School in New Tampa, he saw kids coming in as 16-year-old freshmen already two years behind their age cohorts, with their math and language skills maybe four years behind. "We're putting them in the college preparatory curriculum, and for the majority of those kids, it's not working. We need some alternatives."
Weston says he's not surprised he didn't get the endorsements of the major dailies in Tampa Bay, but is "very shocked" that the Tampa Tribune has opted to date not to publish his spirited reply.
Early voting runs through this weekend in Hillsborough County. If the leading candidate receives more than 50 percent, he or she will be declared the winner. If nobody gets to 50 percent plus one, the top two candidates will run again on November 4.