Long plans to improve safety, budget, STEAM programs

Editor's note: The Santa Rosa Press Gazette continues its series featuring Santa Rosa County candidates running in the Aug. 28 primary election and Nov. 4 general election.

NAVARRE — Kenny Long of Navarre is running against incumbent Carol Boston for the Santa Rosa County School Board's District 3 seat. School board races are nonpartisan.

The father of five children holds degrees from the University of West Florida and Mississippi State University.

He recently answered a series of questions.

SRPG: Tell us about yourself.

Long: I’ve spent the last eight years striving to be the best educator and mentor possible for the students of Santa Rosa County. I am a veteran educator with over 14 years of combined classroom and administrative experience.

Currently, I enjoy teaching gifted students at West Navarre Intermediate School, as well as providing enrichment through the ITV morning show program and our school newspaper, iNKSTAND. I also serve in a host of other volunteer roles within my school, district, church and community.

I was 2013 West Navarre Intermediate School Teacher of the Year and 2013 SRC School District Teacher of the Year Finalist.

I’m a product of Santa Rosa County schools, graduating from Gulf Breeze High in 1995. Santa Rosa County School District has a long, rich heritage of excellence to be proud of, but I see a distinct opportunity for improvement building upon the good, keeping pace with today's fast forward high-tech world, and striving together to meet the ever-changing classroom needs and educational challenges.

I became headmaster of a private school at the age of 27, leaving that position to become the Director of Education for AMIKids Pensacola. Recently, I have served on the Perdido Bay Soccer Association Board, Bayside Soccer Club Scholarships Committee, Juvenile Justice Council of Escambia County/Pensacola, SugarSands EdCamp Board of Directors, Discovery Education Network Ambassadors, Santa Rosa County SPARK Team, School Advisory Council Committee, School Improvement Plan team leader, and Santa Rosa Association for Gifted Education. I am also a volunteer coach for various sports in Navarre and Gulf Breeze including flag football, soccer and basketball.

I designed and implemented SACS-CASI recognized and award-winning 21st Century Community Learning Center tutoring and enrichment program called “Outfitters for Life” and brought significant learning gains to at-risk students. I exponentially increased parental involvement at Louisville Elementary in Louisville, Mississippi, and provided training and enrichment to students and parents through the Outfitters program.

I achieved $20,000 in savings with vendors in my first year as a headmaster of a financially-struggling private school.

I revamped West Navarre Intermediate School’s gifted program to include college-style course catalog enrichment courses selected by students. I was recognized as Rookie of the Year for AMIKids for bringing the program into compliance, and 10 received commendations by national quality assurance reviewer, JJEEP.

I brought the nationally-recognized Camp Invention summer camp week to Santa Rosa County School District. I co-authored a gifted Social-Emotional training course for Escambia, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa County School districts.

SRPG: Why are you running for school board?

Long: I understand the needs of our students and our schools, understanding both the big picture as I served in multiple educational leadership positions, as well as laboring in the trenches where the most important thing each day were the 20 students walking through my door.  

I'm up to date on the issues facing public education nationally, regionally and locally. Equally important, I understand the vital role of the school board and what it takes to be an effective member. My sleeves are rolled up and I am ready to work hard to make Santa Rosa School District the best it can be for our future.

SRPG: What do you hope to accomplish if you are elected?

Long: I will be a voice for students, teachers and schools. Lawmakers need to understand the effects of the decisions made in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. For example, new curriculum standards centralize control and leave less choice at the local district and community level to decide what our students need. Though many have content concerns, our district to date has failed to address and organize a committee of parents, teachers and community members to review and approve textbooks.

Our board must take a more active role in understanding the budget, asking tough questions and ensuring dollars are spent thoughtfully and carefully with students in mind. Boards are to serve as a checks and balances of sorts and must became experts on every facet of the budget. Board members are often faced with making decisions for multi-million dollar budgets with little time or tools to digest and discuss.

Board members must communicate with their constituency, with one another as appropriate in meetings and with district leadership. The community expects to know what’s happening, including the vision looking ahead 5-10 years and the action steps it will take to get there.

We need to continue to forge ahead and lead the way regionally and nationally in science and math programs and initiatives, making academics our focus as well as offer more vocational programs in our high schools or through vo-tech programs and partnerships with local industry. We also have an opportunity by revamping our Community School (latchkey) program to make it into a real tutoring and enrichment (STEAM) program after school that addresses the needs of the whole child.

There’s no doubt safety and security is on everyone’s mind right now and the horror we watch unfold across the nation has students, teachers and families rattled. I’m pleased with the prompt steps SRCSD has taken to ramp up security and protect our precious children. However, there are several things we can do better. First, we are years behind on building new schools to deal with overcrowded sites from elementary to high school. We failed to coordinate and collaborate with our county commissioners and now must address a real crowding crisis that has led to many safety concerns in the Navarre district and around the county.

We must do the best we can for our teachers when it comes to salary and benefits. I’m convinced that the best way to ensure our students receive the best instruction every day is by having the best teachers. We are beginning to the lose the best to textbook companies, neighboring districts and other fields. We must be more competitive and seek to do all we can.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Long plans to improve safety, budget, STEAM programs