Hansen became interested in improving students' academic skills after performing motivational lectures at several Palm Beach County schools. He cited the transformation of Don Estridge High Tech Middle School from a neighborhood school to a choice school as a major accomplishment. Although the school was originally designed to have a neighborhood attendance zone, some Boca Raton parents objected to the plan because their children would have had to attend school with students from Delray Beach.

To accommodate the parents, Hansen promoted making entrance to the school by application only so no one would be forced to attend. The School Board ultimately approved the idea.

Hansen also meets regularly with principals in his district. That has helped solve numerous school problems, such as air conditioning breakdowns at Coral Sunset Elementary and adding a fence to Boca Raton Elementary, he said.

"My visibility has been good," he said.

Hansen said not having children doesn't hinder his ability to be an effective School Board member. He said he has gotten to know students through his motivational lectures and by attending football games and school events.

Hansen, who has raised $14,187, has endorsements from city officials in Boca Raton and Highland Beach. In January, he voted against automatic teacher raises, raising the ire of the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association. He said he thinks teachers should negotiate their raises each year. The CTA vowed to work to unseat him and has endorsed Wagner.

"I don't regret that vote," Hansen said. "They are getting guaranteed raises over the next three years."

Bloch said his priorities include smaller class sizes and boosting teachers' pay. He said he wants to comb through the district's finances to find money to hire more teachers and increase their pay.

"There is money, but wherever it is, it's not going to teachers," he said.

Bloch has raised $475 for the campaign.

In the past six years, Bloch has had financial difficulties, including filing for bankruptcy protection in 2002 and listing debts of almost $158,000. In 1998, he was charged with writing worthless checks to an auction house. He pleaded guilty, but the judge withheld adjudication in the case. Bloch served 18 months' probation and made restitution of $4,500, court records show. He said the bad-check issue arose from a misunderstanding about when the auction house was going to cash the check.

Bloch blamed his financial woes on issues related to his work as an antique dealer from 1990 to 1998 and the sale of a house in December 1998.

In 2003, a bankruptcy judge allowed him to write off debts and emerge from bankruptcy. He is now a real estate agent and his wife is a television producer.

He said he and his wife no longer have serious debts, and the financial problems are no reason to vote against him.

"One subject has nothing to do with the other," Bloch said. "I'm well known as a Realtor. I do a lot of deals."

Two of Bloch's children attended Sandpiper Shores Elementary School, where Bloch volunteered as a lunchroom helper and School Advisory Council member. He transferred them this year to Sunrise Park Elementary because he said it is a more secure campus with fewer entrances and more locked doors. He said he wants to help rectify such inequities among schools and will enlist an accountant's help to find money that he says the district isn't using efficiently. That money can be put toward salaries, better security and smaller class sizes.

Wagner also has learned the workings of the school district as an involved parent. In 2002, he and his wife sued an assistant principal at Eagle's Landing Middle School because they said the administrator yanked an insulin pump from their daughter's body. The assistant principal thought it was a pager, which students are forbidden to carry.

A school district investigation cleared the assistant principal, but the couple won $10,000 from her insurance company. More training for teachers and administrators on the handling of diabetic students also was part of the settlement.

Wagner, who has raised $2,500, said the experience allowed him to get to know a large group of teachers and students. One of his priorities is increasing teacher salaries, though he said he is uncertain where to find the money. He also wants to de-emphasize preparation for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

"It's become overly stressful for students and teachers," Wagner said. "They don't need to prepare for four months straight, and they don't need to know the politics behind it."

All three candidates support a proposed half-percent sales tax to build and renovate schools. None of the candidates had ideas about how the district could raise the money if voters reject the tax in November.

Lois Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6536.

 
 Jeffrey Wagner

 Mark Hansen    

Uri Bloch

By Cynthia Kopkowski

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Jeffrey Wagner and Uri Bloch, fathers who both live west of Boca Raton, oppose Hansen, a single Highland Beach resident who is at the end of his first term representing District 5.

The district runs from the county's southern border to Clint Moore Road and encompasses Boca Raton, developments west of the city and Highland Beach

Wagner, a land surveyor, has a student in high school and a middle-schooler. Bloch, a Realtor, has two elementary-age children and a toddler. Hansen is a Realtor.

Bloch said his candidacy is in part a direct response to Hansen's practice of speaking only briefly — rarely more than a minute or two — during school board meetings that can sometimes last five hours.

"This man says nothing," Bloch said. "We haven't had a voice in this district. He just votes how people tell him to."

Speaking at board meetings is not his strength, said Hansen, who is a part-time motivational speaker for student groups. During his first term, he said, he felt he should defer to veteran members as he learned the ropes.

"I let my vote do the talking," Hansen said.

Hansen said he visits every school in his district three times during the school year. Such visits helped him get air-conditioning problems fixed at Coral Sunset Elementary, plans finalized to expand Boca Raton High and an $8 million auditorium built at Spanish River High, he said.

His accomplishments, he said, include lobbying successfully to have Don Estridge High Tech Middle School opened west of Boca Raton this fall as a total choice facility, meaning enrollment is by application instead of geographical boundary.

Wagner, whose son attends the school, supports the total choice system. Bloch opposes it.

But it was Hansen's vote last fall to eliminate teachers' step pay raises that garnered some of the most vocal criticism of his term. The board eliminated the raises but later restructured the raise system to give teachers annual increases — an approach that Hansen said ensures teachers will get more money.

"The teachers are very happy," Hansen said.

The 10,000-member Classroom Teachers Association is endorsing Wagner, though.

Wagner and Bloch believe teacher salaries should be increased. They believe closer study of the budget would yield more money for salaries. Neither could offer specifics on where it could be found.

Improving services to parents and students, especially disabled students, is a paramount goal for Wagner, who is a member of two school board committees handling disabled-student services.

His daughter's insulin pump was taken from her by an assistant principal who believed it was a beeper. The family received $10,000 in a settlement with the assistant principal's insurance company.

Bloch wants to bring equity to what he called the "have and have-not schools." He believes schools getting A's and D's or F's in the FCAT-based rankings get the most attention from the district, while the B's and C's are largely ignored.

Financial troubles have plagued Bloch in the recent past. In 1998, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 months' probation for writing $18,000 in worthless checks. In December 2002, he declared bankruptcy after sinking $158,000 into debt.

Those troubles should have no bearing on his ability to handle a $2.4 million budget, Bloch said.

He plans to set up a scholarship for District 5 students with his first year's board member salary.