pinion People Power Triumphs in Superintendent Debate

At Tuesday's school board meeting, a sizable group of Manatee County citizens showed that no matter how obstinate a government board may seem, the power always ultimately lies with the people—provided they are willing to do the legwork.

In the previous meeting, the board seemed split on the idea of conducting a national search for candidates to replace former Superintendent Rick Mills, who was forced into early retirement by a majority of board members who refused to support his leadership after the November 2014 elections.

Board member Charlie Kennedy, who was elected last November, asked why the board wasn't simply looking to hire Mills' Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum, Dr. Diana Greene. For whatever reason, board members Dave Miner and chair Bob Gause all but ignored the suggestion and pushed forward with the idea of a search, though the board never voted on discussing a search, let alone conducting one.

In the interim, I explained in a column here, while our publication made additional arguments in an editorial here, why hiring Dr. Greene was an obvious solution. I heard from a lot of citizens on the issue, the overwhelming majority of whom agreed that Greene was not only the unmistakable choice, but that her selection was downright critical if the district was not to regress from its recent educational and financial successes.

I won't rehash those arguments, but I will address the notion proffered by some board members on Tuesday, that even if Dr. Greene were the best candidate, it couldn't hurt to conduct a search and make sure.

Considering that it was just over two years ago that the district and community were rocked by the revelation that a previous administration had been covering up a multimillion dollar hole in the budget that they had publicly announced to the board and taxpayers—a deceit that was followed by revelations that a sexual abuse scandal had been completely mishandled and then brushed under the rug—stability has been in short supply.

The district had no less than three interim superintendents between the time Tim McGonegal resigned in September of 2012, a search was conducted, and Mills started his tenure in March of 2013. In fact, no less than three superintendents had to answer the public regarding why the district had not alerted law enforcement of the accusations made by students and teachers regarding the sexual abuse scandal.

The last six months under Superintendent Mills had been a crash course in school board dysfunction, with the board literally refusing to approve a single one of his recommendations on the most critical issues the district faced, particularly dealing with those who were shown to have failed their duties in the Manatee High scandal. In fact, certain board members concurrently waged vehement defenses of those former employees, while aggressively pursuing the dismissal of members of Mills' leadership team, showing a fierce double standard that spoke to political motivations.

The idea that this district was in any sort of shape to go through another six months of vetting candidates, hiring a new superintendent and then waiting for them to be available to begin is nothing short of farcical. That's before you even consider the invertible period of transition and trust-building that happens when someone new takes the helm of a monolithic organization like a county school district. Of all people, board members should have known that best.

In the end, it took hours of hearing from a highly frustrated public demanding that the board do the obvious before a majority of them would realize that their real bosses had already spoken. Hats off to Charlie Kennedy for proposing a compromise motion that made it all but impossible not to vote in favor of hiring Dr. Diana Greene for the job that she has undoubtedly earned in her last two years with the district.

At that point, Miner and Gause began getting defensive regarding the onslaught of accusations that the board was refusing to do the right thing. Board member Karen Carpenter, who has been the only consistent voice of reason the taxpayers could count on since the November elections, made a call for unity in support of Greene, noting that she didn't want to see fellow board members sticking their foot out to trip her up the way they had with Mills.

A chafed Miner began telling stories about bringing Mills a birthday cake and helping him unpack, failing to note that he was in the former superintendent's office just days after Mills came on board, demanding his resignation on trumped up plagiarism charges concerning his 100-day entry plan. It wouldn't be the last time. Gause's relationship with Mills could be described as frosty at best. Indeed, the litigation between former school district investigator Troy Pumphrey and the district reveals instances in which multiple employees witnessed both Gause and Miner on separate occasions demand that Pumphrey be fired without being afforded due process.

Perhaps the best lesson both Gause and Miner could learn through the failed board relationship with Mills is to better observe the limits of their roles as board members, which endows almost no individual power whatsoever and is limited to creating policy through a majority vote of the board, and completely prohibits them from directing a superintendent or other district employees.

Carpenter also wisely made the call to avoid the sort of under-the-board's-thumb contract that helped to keep Mills' authority as superintendent less than what would be required of an effective administrator. Carpenter pointed out that Mills' contract called for only a 3-2 vote of the board to fire him at any time, regardless of finding cause, a dynamic she said subjected him to “board thuggery.”

Mr. Gause commented that he believed dismissals were governed by state statute. That seems implausible, as it was Gause that helped ensure that former interim superintendent Bob Gagnon was given a contract clause that ensured his employment with the district for at least one year once a permanent superintendent was selected.

The matter of the unorthodox nature of the dismissal clause in Mr. Mills' contract was also brought back up during his last contract discussions among the board, with both Mr. Miner and Mr. Gause expressing reservations about removing the 3-2 clause, though neither cited legal concerns. Mills' original contract was negotiated by former board attorney John Bowen. For those who've been paying attention for the last two years, no more needs to be said. It was designed to make it easy to get rid of him. That's a mistake that cannot be repeated if Dr. Greene is going to continue moving the district forward.

Ms. Carpenter's concerns are well founded and should be addressed by this board, which is designed to be an elected body that is representative of the will of this community. The community at-large is clearly interested in supporting a proven educator and administrator so that she can continue the success of the last two years and direct the district toward even greater improvement in all areas; not in seeing the continuation of political machinations designed to return the district to its cronyism-plagued past.

Board member Mary Cantrell didn't have much to say at all before chucking a last-ditch Hail Mary pass in the form of some barely audible and ultimately incoherent rant about employees Dr. Greene had brought on that had worked for her in Marion County having done something "illegal," only it didn't seem Cantrell could quite grasp the argument she'd offered, and the board chair wisely suggested she put a lid on the whole ordeal.

As for the people, those who stood up and said no more, should take a moment to pat themselves on the back. However, they would be remiss were they assume their job is complete. If Dr. Greene is going to effectively lead this district, she'll need their continued support, which means continuing to pay attention, attend meetings, read news articles and inform their representative officials, while holding them accountable.

The next year and a half will surely bring many challenges, including what is sure to be a crowded field in the 2016 school board elections, along with referendums on multiple funding sources including a sales tax extension and a millage hike. If ever there were a time for this community to be engaged with its public education system, it is now. Democracy is a high-maintenance operation that requires constant attention; otherwise those working on behalf of their own self-interests will always prevail in the end.

Dennis Maley's column appears every Thursday and Sunday in The Bradenton Times. He can be reached at dennis.maley@thebradentontimes.com. Click here to visit his column archive. Click here to go to his bio page. You can also follow Dennis on Facebook.