Gause Says He Wants to Focus on Family, Career After Announcement That He Will Not Seek Reelection

BRADENTON – "I didn't want to talk about it when I was chair," said Bob Gause, explaining the timing of his announcement this week that he would not seek reelection to the Manatee School Board. "I didn't want to talk about it until now." Having sat on the board since 2006, Gause will give up his seat in 2016.

 

Gause has seen three superintendents leave the district during his time as a board member–the first one having left after a long tenure, under planned and quiet circumstances; the second one abrupt, following news of a multi-million dollar deficit that would haunt the district for years; and the third after some major disagreements between him and the board, as well as gaining the ire of a small yet vocal group of detractors. He expressed satisfaction with the current superintendent, Dr. Diana Greene, who will be up for a contract extension in June.

 

"I'm really proud of her and her staff. Everyone puts dedicated effort into what they're doing," he said, adding he was hopeful for the future of the board as a whole.

 

Times have not always been optimistic in the board chambers. Gause's second superintendent, Tim McGonegal, resigned following that announcement of the district's deficit. Gause, who said he was in a prep meeting for a Sept. 11 meeting when McGonegal gave him the news, described the experience of hearing that information as "feeling like getting hit by a Mack truck."

 

Though the district faced many difficulties following the news of the deficit, Gause said the hardest period he went through during his tenure was the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, or,
"The worst recession most adults had experienced," he said. That resulted in what he called "the worst situation": the board having to make painful expense-cutting decisions such as cutting teacher pay.

 

"I voted with 2 other board members to cut salaries; that wasn't popular, and the union was pushing for a raise," he said, adding that he was happy that the board helped protect the district's art programs for students during difficult times, especially when many other Florida districts were trying to scale back such programs.

 

Gause also said he was "particularly proud" of the board's funding for workforce education programs, and later added: "Nothing happens because of one board member. It takes five board members and staff to make everything happen; it has to function like that."