BRADENTON –Members of the school board aren’t taking any chances when it comes to next year’s budget. They have been questioning every contract brought forward by Superintendent Tim McGonegal. At Monday night’s meeting, they tabled several items citing limited information, unrealistic estimates and extended contracts as explanations for not moving forward. But when it came to settling two pending lawsuits – they were approved without much debate.
The district paid $25,000 to a mother who claimed her child was sexually abused on school grounds. They also settled with Joel Chandler, a public records activist who sued the school board $30,000 after his requests for personal information of clients in the district's health insurance plan.
The board has been under fire lately after local Herald-Tribune journalist Christopher O’Donnell uncovered the district had spent an sizeable amount of money by hiring in-house attorney John Bowen on an extended contract. Expecting to save money in the long run, legal expenses actually increased by over $600,000 since 2005-06. Even with two attorneys on staff, the district still hires outside counsel on a regular basis. The district has already spent approximately $40,000 to outside attorneys to defend both lawsuits approved last night.
The mother who claimed negligence on behalf of the school board said that school officials should have prevented male students from inappropriately touching her daughter on the outside of her clothing on several occasions during regular school hours while she attended Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary school. Bowen named mitigating circumstances as the main reason for the settlement.
A law was changed in the midst of a lawsuit filed by Chandler. Though a judge initially sided with Manatee County, which denied Chandler’s request to release names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all Florida school employees, lawmakers changed the sunshine laws and Manatee was indebted to Chandler for legal costs. Much of public criticism directed at the school board has been based on actions of the legal counsel. The district spent over $200,000 trying to block parents' request that their autistic child have a private psychologist observe him while in the classroom.
Speaking of Sunshine Laws
In the board comments section of the meeting, Robert Gause publicly apologized for meeting with outside counsel after three of five board members deemed Bowen’s evaluation as unfavorable and the board received "600 pages of information" from concerned citizens, which served as sufficient grounds for termination. After he received legal advice, other members of the board also met with the same attorney privately. While Gause considered the meetings ”similar to the individual meetings board members have with the superintendent or board attorney to discuss issues and ask questions,“ others felt they were in clear violation of sunshine laws.
Dave ”Watchdog“ Miner agreed the legality of the private meetings was questionable, but said he thought even board assemblies with the superintendent should be public.
In the end, no action was taken after board members learned that it would cost about $450,000 to buy Bowen out of his contract that ends in 2013.
About Those Three-Year Contracts
Members of the board tabled an agenda item that would have awarded a three-year contract to RRE Realty Services, which operates out of Pinellas County, for a period from Dec. 13, 2011 through Dec. 14, 2014.
Dave ”Watchdog“ Miner said he found it hard to believe the school board had to venture to Pinellas County to find a real-estate broker and doubted that they needed to have a real estate contract at all.
Harry Kinnan explained this was the first time the board has ever had multiple properties that it needed to sell. Julie Aranibar said that she had a problem with the exclusivity clause and the three-year contract.
”Given the proposal we saw on the Checker’s property didn’t give me great confidence," board member Karen Carpenter said. "I don’t agree on the three-year contract and I’d like to know who Ôs going to manage this contract. I just really feel that we aren’t ready to do this."
The Superintendent said the board had the option to renew the contract on an annual basis based on performance. Carpenter complained that she didn’t hadn’t received sufficient information prior to the meeting.
Other Board Action
Members of the board approved a one-step salary increase for the new director of construction services Jane Dreger. The majority of the board butted heads with Superintendent McGonegal at the Nov. 14, 2011 board meeting when he recommended Dreger receive a 9 percent increase at a time when teacher salaries were cut by up to 5 percent. The Superintendent has revised his recommendation and decreased Dreger's step increase.
The board was torn on the issue of privatizing custodial services for three elementary schools and one middle school. Under the new plan, one custodian would be on school premises during the day, but a private company, based in Georgia, would clean the grounds in the evening. The item was tabled until Jan. 9, 2012.
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