Lonnie W. Smith has opened a campaign account with the supervisor of elections finalizing his candidacy for superintendent of Polk County schools. Smith formally announced his quest for the superintendency about three months ago.
Smith, 44, is seeking the four-year seat being vacated by Glenn Reynolds, who is not seeking re-election due to his wife's illness.
Smith will be running as a Republican.
Smith said he supports an elected superintendent and believes the voters of Polk County have emphasized that by voting down a referendum several times over the past 30 years to have the school superintendent appointed by the school board.
"I, like many, do not want to give up my right to vote for a position as important as the school superintendent," Smith said.
"I am running because I can make a difference in our school system," he said. "I made a difference at Lake Gibson High School, at Evangel Christian School and at Haines City High School. I have a lot to offer this county, and as Polk County's Teacher of the Year and Florida's Social Studies Educator of the Year, I know what needs to go on in the classroom to get the job done and to have successful results."
Smith's wife, Darlene, is a math teacher at Sleepy Hill Middle School. The couple live in Lakeland and have two married daughters, Jennifer and Rebecca.
Smith has spent the last 20 years in education, after graduating from Southeastern College in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in education. He spent five years as a substitute teacher while he worked as a postal supervisor at the Lakeland Post Office. He began his full-time career in education after attaining his master's degree in educational administration and leadership from Nova University in 1985. After five years as a social studies teacher at Lake Gibson High, Smith was selected as Polk County's Teacher of the Year in 1991 and Florida's Social Studies Educator of the Year.
Smith, then a captain in the United States Air Force Reserve, was activated during Operation Desert Storm. Currently a lieutenant colonel in the reserve, Smith is an intelligence officer assigned to the Special Operations Command, Central, at MacDill AFB in Tampa.
Smith became an assistant principal at Lake Gibson and completed his education specialist degree from the University of South Florida in 1988. Smith then became principal at Evangel Christian School and completed courses at Nova Southeastern University, attaining his doctorate in educational leadership. Smith left Evangel Christian and accepted a position as the social studies supervisor for Polk County schools, under John Stewart, former superintendent.
Smith was appointed principal of Haines City High School by Stewart in July 1996, but his contract was not renewed by Reynolds, after a dispute involving an interim principal program that was reportedly not completed in a timely fashion.
Smith said that his primary focus if elected superintendent would be to ensure our schools are as safe as possible for our children and staff. "I will stop short of nothing to make our kids and staff feel safe at their schools ... from fences, to video cameras, it is paramount that we take care of that first. Secondly, we need to treat our teachers like the professionals they are and ensure we have competitive wages and timely contracts. It's no wonder we have to hire 300-400 teachers a year, most of them leaving to go to neighboring counties to receive higher wages; we need to attract, train and then keep teachers so that our children can receive the best possible education without the interruptions of teacher turnovers."
Smith also wants to implement a program that will allow middle school students the opportunity to attend vocational classes to "help reduce the drop-out rate, reduce discipline problems and better prepare our teenagers to make it in the workforce." Along those lines, he said, " I would like to explore having schools within schools that focus on trades and vocations such as the legal and law enforcement fields, technology, linguistics, mechanics, carpentry, health related fields, and banking and finance. Helping students to focus earlier in school as to their strengths and interests will aid in their transition to high school and increase their chances of being successful. We need to set our students up for success, not for failure."
