Teacher from Costa Rica enters race for board

Three years ago, Luis Jimenez did not feel right saying the Pledge of Allegiance with his students.

After the native Costa Rican became an American citizen, he loves saying it.

More than that, he is ready to participate in all forms of American life, including running for office.

Jimenez, 50, is running as a candidate for the District 3 Collier County School Board seat, which covers parts of North Naples and Golden Gate. He will face current School Board Vice Chairman Steven Donovan, retired teacher Kathy Ryan and local businessman Larry Mullins.

Board members are paid $33,084 a year and serve four-year terms. Members must live in the district they represent, but are elected in nonpartisan contests by voters countywide.

The 2006 primary election is Sept. 5. The general election will be Nov. 7.

Jimenez is no stranger to the classroom. For the past three years, he has been a math and science teacher at Fort Myers Middle Academy, which is a magnet school in south Lee County.

Jimenez

"I like helping kids," he said. "I want to put into practice what works in my school (in Collier County schools)."

Before teaching in Fort Myers, Jimenez spent two years teaching at Manatee Middle School in South Naples.

Jimenez said he favors requiring students to wear uniforms and would like to increase students' and teachers' accessibility to the latest advancements in technology.

He would like to continue the College Reach Out Program in Collier schools, which offers scholarships to students who would be the first in their families to attend college.

Jimenez knows how important school is. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in science from York College in New York and got his teaching certification after taking classes at Edison College and Florida Gulf Coast University.

Jimenez said he also would like to introduce an after-school sports program at the middle schools that would give the students the opportunity to play soccer, tennis, basketball and other sports before getting to high school.

Under his after-school program proposal, Jimenez said, he would require that students maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point average and exhibit good behavior.

He also supports putting a high school on Marco Island, which is something residents on Marco Island have been calling for. School officials have said the prototype for a small high school has been 2,000 students with facilities built on 50 or 60 acres.

Tract K, which the district owns, is 11.6 acres.

But Jimenez believes the 1,426 children living on Marco Island and attending Collier County schools should have the opportunity to attend high school near their homes if they want to.

"The kids travel 20 miles to Lely (High School)," he said. "Why not? Everglades is a small school. Marco would have more than 100 in the high school."

Jimenez also understands the need for affordable housing in Collier County. He works part-time at Publix to supplement his teaching salary, which for a fourth-year teacher in Lee County will be about $36,000 next year.

Jimenez has been married to his wife, Mirna, for 27 years. They have a 24-year-old son, Adrian. The family moved from Costa Rica to New York City in 1986. The family lived for nine years in Queens, N.Y., before moving to Naples in 1995.

Jimenez said he is excited to help make Collier County better for the students.

"I'm just sad I started (running for the board) so late," he said.