Where I Stand: Three Consultants I Would Consider
By Curtis Campogni, Candidate for Pinellas County School Board (District 3 – At-Large)
This might be the first blog post that gets me in trouble with just about everyone.
District leadership and School Board members might ask, "How dare you suggest we need outside perspectives?"
And taxpayers might ask, "How dare you suggest spending our money on consultants?"
But hear me out.
After the recent round of school consolidation discussions, and after countless conversations with parents and community members, I've come to believe Pinellas County Schools could benefit from outside perspectives.
(Full transparency: I think the same could be said for just about any person or organization, myself included.)
In fact, during the December 16, 2025, School Board meeting, a Board member acknowledged that members can sometimes operate in an "echo chamber," unaware of what the broader community knows or what questions families are asking.
If we're serious about improving student outcomes, we have to be willing to challenge our assumptions, examine how we operate, and invite perspectives beyond our own.
With that in mind, here are three areas where I would consider supporting outside expertise if elected to the School Board.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that, if elected, these are three consulting contracts I'd immediately pursue. Instead, I'm approaching this as a hypothetical question:
If I could bring in outside expertise to help address three challenges facing Pinellas County Schools, where would I start?
That doesn't mean the district isn't already doing important work in these areas, or that hiring a consultant is necessarily the answer. And finally, the organizations I mention are examples, not endorsements.
IN THIS POST
1. An Independent Organizational Efficiency Review
I recently compared Pinellas County Schools' organizational charts from 2015 and 2026, hoping to answer a few questions such as:
How has our administrative structure changed over the last decade? Have staffing levels and costs changed in line with enrollment? Are people doing the same work, or could we operate better?
An organizational chart alone can't answer those questions. That's why I'd consider bringing in an outside expert to evaluate how our district administration is staffed and organized, including whether we have more positions or layers of management than necessary. In fact, I know of at least one large Florida agency that brought in outside expertise after a merger to do exactly that.
One example is Evergreen Solutions, a Tallahassee-based consulting firm that conducts organizational and staffing reviews for public-sector organizations. Its work includes evaluating management structures, staffing levels, employee workloads, supervisory responsibilities, and potential opportunities for improvement.
In short, I'd like an independent look at how our district administration is organized.
Not because I've concluded we're overstaffed at the district administrative level. I haven't. But because I believe we need the information to determine whether we're using our resources as effectively as possible.
The question I hope to answer: Are we keeping as many dollars as possible closest to the student experience?
An important note: PCS already conducts various audits. I also came across references to a 2012 proposal for an audit specifically looking at the size and cost of district administrative staff. However, I haven't been able to locate the actual review or confirm whether it was ever completed. And I'm certainly open to being corrected, but I haven't been able to find a publicly available independent analysis of district-level administrative staffing conducted since COVID. That doesn't mean one doesn't exist. But it's something I'd want to better understand before suggesting we spend taxpayer dollars on another assessment.
2. A Proactive Family Outreach and Enrollment Strategy
We spend a lot of time talking about declining enrollment in Pinellas County Schools.
But I'd like us to spend more time on how we can reverse that trend where possible.
Specifically, what are we doing to connect with families before their children are even school-aged?
Imagine building relationships with parents when their children are two or three years old, rather than waiting until kindergarten registration. Through partnerships with pediatricians, childcare providers, libraries, early learning organizations, and neighborhood groups, we could help families understand what our public schools offer long before they make an enrollment decision.
There are many consulting firms that specialize in school enrollment strategies and community outreach. For example, Donovan Group has described work helping the School District of Manatee County reach more families.
I'd be interested in exploring whether this kind of expertise could strengthen our existing outreach efforts and help us build relationships with families we're not currently reaching. And this isn't simply about marketing.
It's about listening to parents, understanding what influences their decisions, addressing concerns, and building trust in our neighborhood public schools.
The question I hope to answer is: Are we so focused on declining birth rates and stopping enrollment losses that we're overlooking opportunities to invest in the next generation of PCS families?
An important note: According to a March 2026 WUSF report, PCS has increased its focus on early childhood outreach, connecting early learning centers with neighborhood schools and building relationships with families. That's encouraging. But I'm interested in what an outside firm might see that we're missing. Are we missing families? Could a new perspective help us understand why parents choose other options and develop creative ways to connect with them?
3. An Independent School Board Governance Assessment
This might be controversial, but I'll still ask it.
If we're willing to examine how district administration operates, shouldn't we also examine ourselves?
Our seven-member School Board has an enormous responsibility. They establish priorities, oversee the superintendent, approve budgets, and make decisions that affect thousands of students, employees, and families.
But how do we evaluate whether the Board itself is effective?
One example worth exploring is the work of AJ Crabill, author of Great on Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective.
His work focuses on helping school boards improve governance practices and stay focused on student outcomes. In other words, they bring his team in to evaluate how well the School Board is doing its job and where it could improve.
I wonder what an independent assessment might reveal about how well our Board sets priorities, uses its meeting time, evaluates the superintendent, and holds itself accountable.
And I'd want the findings to lead to measurable improvements, not simply another training session or report that sits on a shelf.
The question I hope to answer: Are we governing in a way that gives our students and community the best chance to succeed?
An important note: Our School Board already has a self-evaluation process. According to its May and June 2026 workshop records, members discussed changes to that process and reviewed a self-evaluation summary. That information is below.
What Board members said
*As part of the self-evaluation, Board members rated the Board's overall performance. The scores below reflect each member's assessment of the Board, not their individual performance.
Board member | Rating given to the Board | Summary of Board member comments |
Eileen Long | 3.78 | Expressed concern about inconsistent attendance at meetings and workshops, while praising the Board's focus on student outcomes and advocacy. |
Laura Hine | 3.75 | Questioned how members could evaluate complaint-handling practices they don't directly observe. |
Katie Blaxberg | 3.65 | No written comments recorded. |
Caprice Edmond | 3.60 | Said members sometimes lack complete information, but can ask questions. Also emphasized distinguishing individual opinions from official Board positions and suggested more full-Board gatherings. |
Lisa Cane | 3.50 | Raised concerns about members presenting personal opinions as Board positions and decisions appearing to be made before presentations or discussions. |
Dawn Peters | 3.00 | Rated all four categories 3.0. No written comments recorded. |
Stephanie Meyer | Not reported | No ratings or written comments appear in the document. |
Where I Stand
I don't believe outside consultants are automatically the answer. And I certainly don't believe spending money on a study guarantees improvement.
As I've noted throughout this blog, PCS is already working in all three of these areas. Before considering outside expertise, I'd want to understand what's already being done, what we've learned, and whether an independent perspective could offer something we're missing.
Any investment of taxpayer dollars should involve an open process, a reasonable price, clear goals, and a way to know whether it worked.
But I also don't think we should fear independent scrutiny. And quite frankly, I'm not sure the district, or even the state, can always provide the necessary perspective we need to identify our own blind spots.
If an organizational assessment finds that our administrative structure is appropriate, that's valuable information. If an enrollment strategy helps us reach families we otherwise wouldn't, that's worth exploring. And if a governance assessment identifies ways the School Board itself can improve, we should be willing to hear that, too.
Because effective leadership isn't about having all the answers.
Sometimes it's about being willing to invite someone into the room who might see something you've missed.
And as always, I'm open to changing my mind when new information gives me a reason to.
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 or governing body.
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