Term-limited St. Petersburg City Councilmember Bill Dudley is ready to get back in touch with his roots.
The former public school teacher of 38 years confirmed to SaintPetersBlog that he’ll be challenging incumbent Janet Clark for her District 1 Pinellas County School Board seat.
“I was and still am an educator,” wrote Dudley in an e-mail. “Once an educator, always an educator.”
Dudley has been serving as St. Petersburg’s District 3 City Council member since being elected in 2007. He was subsequently re-elected in 2011.
Clark, a former teacher herself, is at the end of her third term on Pinellas’ School Board.
As far as Dudley basing his decision to run on the Tampa Bay Times’ recent “Failure Factories” article goes — well, things just aren’t quite that romantic.
“My decision was made in June,” Dudley wrote, while also adding that he feels “the time for experienced leadership is needed now, more than ever.”
Currently, the School Board’s District 1 is an at-large countywide seat, meaning it’s open to voters throughout Pinellas County. The position pays around $41,000 a year.
Janelle Irwin contributed to this report.
