Schools and Education Dr. Diana Greene Hired as Manatee's New Superintendent

BRADENTON — Two weeks after Rick Mills' retirement from the district was accepted by the school board, the plan for the board going into Tuesday's meeting was to discuss the search process for a new superintendent.

That plan ended up not happening, as – just after proposed terms for Don Hall serving as an interim superintendent were accepted – the board instead chose to hire Dr. Diana Greene to a one-year contract in a unanimous vote.

After hearing from about 20 community members during public comment and then discussing the subject, it seemed that board members were still divided on whether to go through with a national search, with Board Chair Bob Gause and Dave Miner indicating, as they did at the last meeting, support for a search.

At that last meeting – without a vote or motion on the table – Miner declared that the board would conduct a national search, and suggested that hiring Greene without a search would be "a rush to anoint." Greene had been hired by Mills as Deputy Supt. after coming in second place in 2013's selection process; Miner was openly one of Mills' most vocal political opponents throughout the former superintendent's tenure.

Karen Carpenter, speaking Tuesday night, said she was "a little surprised to hear that we were going to be discussing a search because I didn't think we had a vote." She also spoke about supporting the new superintendent regardless of who the board picked: "Are we going to help them, or are we going to put our foot in front of them?"

Carpenter also stated support for Dr. Greene, saying that as deputy superintendent of instruction, "she played a major role" in helping the district's finance recovery because she was the Florida school system much better.

Miner, who replied to Carpenter by saying he didn't think "anyone on the board is into tripping people," then said in response to public comments: "What I'm hearing from people tonight is (let's not do a search to find the possible candidate)." Miner added that he didn't think "our children, our schools, our community" deserve anything less than what he called a "due diligence search."

"This is one of the subjects that can be very divisive; you're vilified if you don't agree," said Gause, after a lengthy public comment session that included arguments from both sides of the issue, with the majority of those giving comment supporting the hiring of Greene.

Some commenters argued that a search would not result in a better potential candidate than Greene. Phillip Brown, President of the United Way of Manatee County, told the board: "There's not only one (person who can do this well). And in the end, the choice of that person is a best guess. We don't really know. With Dr. Greene, the probability is high. You understand her, you have a working relationship with her, you know her skillset." 

Expressing support for a climate survey before a decision on hiring a superintendent is made, Gause reminded board members that a survey of the district was their highest ranked issue coming into 2015.

"It's important to understand not just (what our culture is), but the culture of the community," said the board chair. Gause added that if a superintendent "doesn't match up well with the culture, (we're going be set up for failure)."

After discussion, board member Charlie Kennedy proposed a one year contract for Dr. Greene, who, when asked, indicated she would accept if the board voted to approve such a contract. That proposal, which Kennedy called a "third way," was enough of a compromise to move board members who had wanted a national search. Kennedy said, "Given her experience with us – I don't think it's unreasonable to say, we owe her at least a year to see what she can do."

Negotiations on the contract between board attorney James Dye and Greene will begin Wednesday. Having a climate search conducted within Greene's first three months in her new position was added before the unanimous vote, and a swearing-in ceremony was set for Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.