School Board Not Inclined to Take Action on Superintendent

Saunders had been accused of directing staff to deliberately miscode high school dropouts as students who had transferred to homeschooling while overseeing curriculum in 2014-16, prior to being promoted to superintendent. The district claimed it found no wrongdoing after completing an internal investigation.

However, a complaint led to a state investigation, in which probable cause was found. Saunders finally entered into a revised settlement agreement with Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran last month after a previous settlement offer had been rejected. She was fined $2,000 and will have to take corrective classes.

Saunders' education certificate will be placed on a two-year probation period, however, that is contingent upon her return to a position that requires one (Saunders says she will retire when her current contract ends next year). A letter of reprimand was also entered into her file.

After the settlement became public, both the Manatee County NAACP and Manatee County Republican Party Executive Committee called for Saunders to resign or be terminated. The board made no effort to insert a discussion onto Tuesday's agenda, but each member weighed in after public comments were given.

Board member Gina Messenger and board chair James Golden remained Saunders' most vocal supporters, touting the improvements in education metrics that had taken place under her administration.

Board member Mary Foreman said that while she didn't believe the board should have hired her into the permanent role back when members were made aware of the probable cause finding while Saunders was serving as interim superintendent, she wasn't sure that terminating Saunders now, with just one year left in her contract, would best serve students. However, Foreman said she was interested in hearing from constituents who disagreed.

Board member Charlie Kennedy was the only one to suggest that the board should take some sort of action in response to both the settlement and the Inspector General report that was issued after the investigation. Kennedy suggested that the action could range from a letter of reprimand to a one-week suspension, to termination, noting that he did not favor the last option. Kennedy also said he'd like to set aside funding to offer assistance to any of the students who were miscoded to attend Manatee Technical Institute if they desired.

That put the board's newest member, Chad Choate–who was appointed by the governor when Scott Hopes stepped down to become Manatee County Administrator–in a position to potentially swing the majority in either direction. However, Choate said little but indicated that if the previous board hadn't punished Saunders, it did not fall on the current one to take up the matter beyond the punitive aspects of the settlement.

Choate's position gave Saunders a firm majority, which would seem to indicate that she's survived the scandal and will be able to serve out the last year of her contract before retiring.