BRADENTON – Purchasing and payroll issues have plagued the first weeks of the school year, as the Manatee County School District continues to struggle with the fallout from a $22 million business management system upgrade that came in at more than double its budget and a year and a half behind schedule.

From problems with pay amounts and benefit deductions to ordering classroom level supplies and construction materials, the district is continuing to wrestle with the implementation of a program that has been a giant thorn in its side, already leading to thesuspension of one deputy superintendentas it investigates possible unauthorized expenditures and a pending audit from the state.

Interim superintendent Cynthia Saunders, who was appointed when previous superintendent Diana Greeneleft the districtfor Duval County the day before the project was to go live, said this week that the district had come to an agreement with the project's vendor and its parent company that would see them completing work needed on the project without additional cost to the district. The district had withheld roughly $2.8 million in unpaid invoices pending its completion.

School District Disarray has a Familiar Stench

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