Advertisement

Editorial: Priorities for the new Hillsborough superintendent

 
Published April 20, 2015

The Hillsborough County School Board is poised to hire acting superintendent Jeff Eakins today, and he should look beyond the controversy that brought him to this point and focus on improving schools. Long-standing issues such as transportation and special needs education deserve his immediate attention, as do new challenges such as reining in discipline and suspension rates. Above all, Eakins should implement concrete solutions aimed at forcing change.

There is little to quibble about in Eakins' proposed contract, a two-year deal that would pay him a minimum of $225,000 annually. Now the board should step back and give Eakins a chance to run the district. Eakins, who turns 50 this week, has worked for the district for more than 25 years and enjoys a good relationship with the board. They should continue to work together and foster a collegial relationship that is anchored in the common goal of educating students.

Several key areas deserve Eakins' attention as he prepares to fully assume leadership in July. First, he should make improving the county's 73.5 percent graduation rate a top priority. In a recent meeting with the Tampa Bay Times' editorial board, Eakins said bolstering Hillsborough's graduation rate, which is below the state and national averages, should be a call to action embraced by faculty and staff at every grade level. He will need to find ways to engage the 26.5 percent of Hillsborough students who don't finish high school and focus all employees on preparing students for college, trade school or the working world.

Eakins also must address discipline problems at McLane Middle School, which was recently the focus of a Times investigation. The district buses hundreds of students from east Tampa to the Brandon school, shuttling them past several magnet schools with empty seats in their own neighborhoods. Eakins has put forth some good ideas about bridging the divide between McLane and its students and their families in east Tampa. He should follow through with outreach ideas that work and replicate them in other schools with similar issues. And he should work hard to make sure interested east Tampa families take advantage of magnet schools in their neighborhoods.

Separately, Eakins' concern about the overpolicing of schools is rightly placed. He wants to make sure that school resource officers are not automatically relied upon to handle discipline issues on campus, a tactic that can unnecessarily propel students into the criminal justice system. Eakins should not back down in his quest for student accountability that does not automatically involve law enforcement.

Prior administrations have been far too reactive to the district's problems. Eakins should move expediently to address long-standing issues and others that will certainly emerge. As head of Hillsborough schools, Eakins now has more than 200,000 children and families who are depending on him to succeed.