Where I Stand on School Closures

By Curtis Campogni, Candidate for Pinellas County School Board, District 3 (At-Large)

Every challenge in education brings an opportunity to lead differently. One of the reasons I am running for the Pinellas County School Board is to make sure that any decision affecting our schools begins with honesty, reflection, and care for the people involved.

Right now, the district is holding community “Planning for Progress” sessions in response to declining student enrollment across Pinellas County. Population shifts, housing costs, storms, and economic changes are all real factors that have contributed to this trend. But these are not the only reasons we are here. If we are going to make decisions about school closures or consolidations, we cannot simply point to external circumstances. We must also take time for deep, internal reflection.

This means asking questions like:

How well have we told the story of our public schools?

Are families hearing about our strengths and our improvements, or only our challenges?

Have we clearly communicated the critical role that neighborhood schools play in the life of a community?

Has district leadership done enough to counter misinformation and clearly communicate what is true and what is myth about public schools?

I believe enrollment can swing back if we rebuild trust, strengthen the culture of our schools, and share both our weaknesses and the work we are doing to improve them.

Public schools are more than buildings. They are memories, relationships, stability, and belonging. This matters even more for children who have already experienced disruption.

As an adoptive parent, I know that when a child loses their sense of place, something deeper than routine is affected.

My View and School Board Solutions

If elected, I would advocate for the School Board to:

1. Host a public analysis and community forum focused on why enrollment declined, centered specifically on the factors we can control or directly influence. This includes listening to families who stayed, those who left, and those who never enrolled.

   
   

2. Proactively communicate with adults who do not currently have children in the district but may in the future. These are future parents and future decision-makers, and we should not wait until they are choosing a school to engage them.

   
   

3. Establish a standing community committee that includes educators, neighborhood members, business leaders, and young adults to support ongoing outreach, not just reactive messaging during times of concern.

   
   

4. Prioritize student stability so that any potential consolidation does not increase disruption, anxiety, or unnecessary transitions for students and families.

   
   

5. Explore alternatives to closures by repurposing school space for career and technical programs, childcare support, adult learning programs, and partnerships that strengthen the community.

   
   

6. Ensure that educators and school staff are not treated as interchangeable positions. Staffing transitions should honor relationships, school culture, and the continuity students rely on.

To keep it real

First and foremost, these listening sessions cannot be performative. If the community discovers that decisions were already made and these meetings are simply to appease concerns, it will damage trust and fuel the very division we are trying to prevent. We also need to stop treating criticism of public schools as an attack on public schools. Honest feedback is how any system learns and grows, and that is at the core of what education is meant to be.

Further, we can support school choice, magnet programs, charters, and private options while still calling out any effort to use this moment as an opportunity to diminish the value of public education as a whole. Healthy communities improve through dialogue, not defensiveness, and this moment requires exactly that.

If we choose to walk through this process with honesty and shared purpose, we can protect what matters most: our children’s right to learn in a safe and supportive environment, families’ right to raise their children according to their values, and educators’ ability to focus on teaching without fear of instability created far above their classroom.

We move forward best when we do it together, with honesty, clarity, and care for the people who will feel the impact of these decisions most.

This is my current view based on the information I have today. I will always strive to present balanced, fact-based ideas and remain open to learning as new facts emerge. Growth means continuing to listen and improve.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of Curtis Campogni, Candidate for Pinellas County School Board, District 3 (At-Large), and do not represent the official position of any organization, agency, or governing body.