Primary 2020: Pasco County School Board Candidates
PASCO COUNTY, FL — Pasco County voters will have a chance to a new Pasco County District 4 School Board representative on Tuesday as Alison Crumbley faces Joshua Stringfellow.
Joshua Stringfellow
Born and raised in west Pasco County, Joshua Stringfellow graduated from Ridgewood High School in 2006, earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 2009 from Clearwater Christian College and a master's degree in accounting in 2012 and in economics in 2019 from the University of South Florida.
He's been a certified public accountant since 2012 and a certified government finance manager since 2o16. He spent 10 years working for publicly traded, private and government organizations. From 2014 to 2019, Stringfellow was accounting/senior finance manager with Pasco County Schools.
Stringfellow has been a member of First Baptist Church of New Port Richey since childhood. His wife is an exceptional education teacher in Pasco County Schools and both of their children attend Pasco County public schools.
He cites four focus issues
1. – Strong Financial Management
"Tough financial decisions are ahead for Pasco County Schools in these challenging economic times. My relevant financial experience and expertise on the Pasco County School Board will help put our district on the right financial path. I will help make the tough decisions for making changes at both the district and school level so that we can properly allocate the resources we need to our schools."
2. – Supporting our Teachers
"Teacher evaluation is a necessary part of the student education process. However, the existing process is stressful and often confusing. In Pasco County Schools, we need to consider models that allow student performance only to improve teachers’ evaluation. And, yes, it can be done; other Florida counties’ teacher evaluation models accomplish this already.
" End split classrooms. Our teachers have enough to do to educate their assigned students on a given day. Additionally, all instructional positions have critical roles in their schools. When we cannot get proper guest teacher coverage, so many other critical functions in our schools suffer leading to reduced long-term student performance.
To change this, we must:
change our sick/vacation/PTO program for teachers so they can take the leave they need while incentivizing them to do it in a way that maximizes guest teacher coverage, and
invest in our guest teachers with higher pay, more training and better communication."
3. – Streamlined Student Testing
" Reduce unnecessary testing. Pasco County have many districtwide tests that are not required by the state and do not provide teachers with meaningful data to assess their students. The job of helping individual students learn needs to be left to the professionals in the classroom who know their students and can find the best ways for them to individually improve.
4. – Sustainable Student Success
"One of the largest challenges that students face is transitioning to the next level. One way to help students make the transition is with early introduction to the rigor of the next level.
"We can see Pasco County’s struggle in doing this by observing that, in the 2018-19 school year, only 56 percent of middle school students completed high school course work prior to entering ninth grade compared to the state average of 68 percent. Moreover, only 47 percent of graduating high school seniors had completed at least one college, industry certification or similar course before graduating high school, compared to the state average of 58 percent.
"To help students better make these transitions, we need to invest in programs to help students advancing at all levels, from the pre-K/elementary to the high school/college progression, with programs that show them what to expect as they move forward.
"I am running:
to help our school district focus on my four focus issues above,
to bring my extensive experience in finance and economics to ask the right questions about resource allocation, and
to refocus our schools on student equity, specifically on strategies to reduce teacher vacancies and ensure that students living in poverty have qualified teachers year-round."
Alison Crumbley
A graduate of Gulf High School, Alison Crumbley received a bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Florida.
Her experience includes managing the Tampa office of an international advertising agency and serving as the marketing director of a Tampa Bay commercial real estate firm.
She is also c0-founder of the Cinderella Project of Pasco and the Prince Charming Project, which provides prom clothes to financially challenges students; is a past member of the River Ridge High School Advisory Council; a charter member of Hope United Methodist Church of Trinity; served on the Pasco County Citizens Advisory Council during the update to the Pasco County Comprehensive Land Use Plan; is a 23-year volunteer for the Sunshine Kids Foundation, which organizes and leads trips for children with cancer; is a board member of Youth and Family Alternatives; and earned the Certified School Board Member designation from the Florida School Board Association.
She and her husband, Allen, have three daughters.
Crumbley was elected to the Pasco County School Board in 2010 and said she is proud of the work the school board has done, particularly in the use of Penny for Pasco dollars and impact fees to ensure equity and equal access to a world-class education for all students in Pasco County.
These funds are being used to finance major renovations at Gulf Middle School and Gulf High School, remodeling the Marlowe Elementary STEM School and establishing the Northwest Elementary/Hudson High/Middle pre K - 12 complex, which will be an innovative state-of-the-art educational center, a first of its kind in Pasco County. The funds also will be spent on high-demand programs including STEAM, Cambridge and workforce-ready course work, and expanding community partnerships where needed to provide medical, dental and behavioral health services.
"I am running for re-election to be sure these projects happen as planned," Crumbley said. "Their positive impact on Pasco students will be incredible. Providing a world-class education to all of Pasco’s students with equity is my passion. Pasco County Schools has consistently earned an AAA bond rating from Moody’s because of our stewardship to you the taxpayer during my time on the school board. And I’ll continue to be sure we stay that way."
Crumbley said her top priority is the safety of students and teachers during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I am a mother, too. My children (and my grandchild) are my most precious God-given things on the planet. It will require experience from me and input from you to make the right choices during COVID-19. This is not the time for a candidate with a learning curve."
This article originally appeared on the Land O' Lakes Patch
