The State Of Highlands Schools

For the past eight years, and at least the next four years, one person has been and will continue at the helm of the Highlands County School District - Superintendent of Schools Wally Cox.

Soft spoken and unassuming, the 55-year-old's entire professional career has been with the Highlands County School District.

He grew up in Highlands County and attended Woodlawn Elementary School and then the old Sebring High. His senior year was at the present-day Sebring High, which opened in 1971. He graduated from high school in 1972 and then attended SFCC followed by Florida State University where he earned a degree in finance/accounting.

He started working for the School Board of Highlands County right out of college in April 1976.

When he ran for superintendent in 2000 and 2004, Cox faced opposition, but in 2008 he and school board members J. Ned Hancock and Donna Howerton had no opposition.

Highlands Today asked Cox about his eight years in office and the challenges of his job.

Q: What were your feelings about no one stepping forward to oppose you this time?

A: "I was very thankful; I felt it was a blessing," Cox said.

He enjoys meeting people during the campaign, but campaigning takes a lot of time and takes some of his focus from his work.

"Maybe because of some of the budget issues nobody else wanted to do it," he said. "Maybe they thought with my background, I would be the best to stay on and get us through."

Q: What were your major accomplishments of the past eight years?

A: Cox said he did not accomplish anything on his own; it has been a collaborative effort of many.

"I think we have accomplished a lot, but it has to do more with my administrators, teachers and staff and my family has been very supportive, especially my wife," he said. The school board has also been very supportive.

In 1999-2000 only 20 percent of the district's schools had an "A" or "B" accountability grade, Cox said. Now it's 60 percent. A big focus in reading and progress monitoring helped, which tries to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each student.

"We still have a long way to go," he added

Q: What about the high schools, which have recorded mostly "D" and a few "C" grades the past five years?

A: "That's not just in our district; that's statewide," Cox said. "Superintendents at every one of our meetings continue to try and share best practices and strategies of how to best move our high schools along.

"It continues to be a key focus for us here in Highlands County."

Continuing on the major accomplishments of his tenure, Cox cited the district's building program, which included the opening of two new schools - The Kindergarten Learning Center and Memorial Elementary School.

Also, there have been major additions built on almost every campus, he said. The school board has been very committed to eliminating as many portable classrooms as possible.

When the last-planned projects are completed at the high school and middle school in Lake Placid in 2009-10, the district will have the fewest portables in a long, long time, Cox said.

"We've also made a huge investment in technology and incorporating technology into the classroom," he added.

"Servant leadership" may not be categorized as an accomplishment Cox said, but it has great importance.

"What that means to me is, my needs are less important than of my principals and district staff so I try to put their needs ahead of mine," he said. Likewise, the principals' needs are less important than those of their teachers whose primary focus is on their students.

Giving back to the community is another high point, Cox said. As a group the school district is the largest contributor to United Way.

Though the school system is the largest employer, that was not the case eight years ago, he noted.

Q: A setback for the district was the defeat of the referendum to implement a half-cent sales tax. The district went on to borrow money to fund its construction. But, now with two new schools and new classroom buildings in place along with declining enrollment, was the half-cent really needed?

"That was one of my disappointments," Cox said. "We could have done more building."

The district had a 20-year construction plan that would cost about $200 million, he explained. The half-cent sales tax would have funded that without the district having to go into debt.

When the half-cent failed, the district borrowed $51 million and focused its new construction solely on classrooms.

"We did about one-fourth of what we were hoping to do plus we are in debt," he said. The half-cent tax was a really good plan because 40 percent of the revenue would have come from non-residents.

The 2005 Hurricane Season

Another setback was the 2004 hurricane season, which brought three hurricanes that caused damage at a number of schools including major roof damage.

Cox believes the 11 canceled school days was likely the highest number in the history of the school district.

Some positives came out of it though, Cox said.

"I saw employees pull together when the schools were closed," he said. With no electrical power the refrigerated food would spoil, but the district opened community kitchens to use the food and feed some of the public.

"But, it seemed like we never got back on full track that year because it just wore everybody out," Cox noted.

The Biggest Challenge

The biggest challenge during his tenure is the funding reductions that started about a year and a half ago, Cox said.

"I've never seen anything close to this in my 34 years" with the school district, he said.

The recession is not the legislators' fault, Cox said.

"Unless something changes drastically, the most difficult year is going to be 2009-10," he said. "I've already done some things that I didn't want to do including cutting positions, but at the same time I have the responsibility to recommend a balanced budget."

The Class Size Amendment

Passage of the Class Size Amendment by voters in 2002 was a huge disappointment for him, Cox said.

Obviously a superintendent should support smaller class sizes, but the classes were already small in Highlands County, he noted. But the way it is implemented, the Class Size Amendment causes a waste of money.

For example, once it is fully implemented a first-grade classroom could not exceed 18 students. If a school starts the year with 18 students in each of its six first-grade classrooms and then one more student enrolls, another class with another teacher has to be added.

"That just doesn't make sense to me," Cox said.

What is your opinion on the elected versus appointed superintendent issue?

Voters will decide in November 2010 if they want to switch to an appointed superintendant. If voters choose an appointed superintendent, it would be implemented two weeks after the general election in 2012.

"A lot of people believe I ride the fence on this issue," Cox said, "and I don't ride the fence on many issues, but there are pros and cons to both."

In this district the elected system has worked well with qualified people being elected since the county started, he said. But that does not occur always in other counties so that makes a good case for an appointed superintendent.

The appointed superintendent has not worked well in some counties resulting in high turnover such as three or four superintendents in a five-year period and they are all on contract, Cox said.

"My feelings about Highlands County, it would probably work well under either system," he said. "I trust the voters to know what's best for the county and they will have to make a decision whether they want to give up their right to vote for superintendent to five elected school board members."

What is the best part of your job?

"Going to programs where we are awarding students, seeing them perform and exceed," he said. "That's probably what I enjoy the most - seeing students succeed and then we actually do things to celebrate that and give them the recognition."

How long would you like to be superintendent?

"I don't know," he said. "I have a lot of things I still want to accomplish. I kind of take it day-by-day, year-by-year."