Letter: Grifters See Our School District as an Easy Mark

There are things that nobody is saying that need to be said. After working in the Manatee County School District for 12 years, 7 in the District Office and in my 5th year of teaching at Lakewood Ranch High School, I have arrived at the unfortunate conclusion that opportunists–both local and otherwise–have come to view the MCSD in the same way a Grifter views a Mark.

Is it really too much to ask our School Board to execute their due diligence when hiring high-level administrators and ensure that there is nothing in their past that portends future problems? Three recent top administrators in the MCSD–Mills, Green and Cirianna–were all demoted in their home districts shortly before being hired by Manatee County.

Ten minutes on Google and anyone can find that out. All three ended up leaving the county in the lurch and all three were paid handsomely to do it. What is it about Manatee County that prevents us from attracting and hiring top-level administrators who haven’t experienced failure in their home districts? Why are we always just a stepping-stone on some recovering administrator’s career path?

Why are we willfully opening our wallets and engaging in this game? Like the dealer in Three Card Monte, the three above made out like bandits. Mills, in particular, bailed with well over $500,000.00 for just 2 years of employment, and was then paid an additional $80,000.00 to skip out on his contract. Is this District really so flush with cash that we can pay out administrators twice the salary of a newly hired teacher when they fail to fulfill their contractual obligations?

As has become typical, the damage these ill-considered hires have done does not come to light until after they have left the District. In the meantime, the MCSD has provided them with a bridge to legitimacy, allowing them to move on before their (usually predictable) inadequacies catch up to them. And now we have a new boondoggle. A retired administrator from Seminole County is being paid $900 a day + $250 a day expenses for overseeing the ill-advised $9 million ERP project.

This is a project that, despite being initiated under the aegis of "professional, experienced businessmen" on our School Board, has cost overruns of at least $18 million (as far as we currently know). The gentleman in question has a contract for $65,000.00, equating to just about 2 months of work.

It would take a new teacher in Manatee County approx. 18 months of work to make the same amount of money. Meanwhile, our classrooms are overcrowded, our students don’t have textbooks, our facilities crews are under-staffed, we can’t get computers repaired and it’s impossible to order necessary classroom supplies because the $27 million+ ERP system can’t manage to cut timely checks to vendors.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. For too long the MCSD has given only lip service to the idea that students are our priority. It’s time to fulfill that promise. In fact it’s well past time for real leadership, real education and real service to our future generations É not just a revolving door of self-enriching opportunists.

The Manatee County School District should not be a haven for ersatz administrators looking to leave a bad situation, pad their savings accounts and leapfrog to retirement or a better gig. It should not be a gravy train of cronyism for local suppliers and developers (that’s a whole Ônother letter).

The Manatee County School District should be what it only pretends to be–a dedicated educational organization (not, an "enterprise“!) that strives daily to provide the best education manageable–for ALL of our students--within the limits of our considerable (when not squandered) resources.

That happens every day in our schools and in our classrooms, but until it starts happening at the District and School Board levels, we are destined to be a Mark and, as usual, the students will suffer for it.

Greg Klein

Manatee County