Superintendent Mills to Leave School District in July

BRADENTON – In February, Superintendent Rick Mills wrote a letter to the school board asking them to not consider extending his contract ending in 2017, with the board obliging. But in a move on Monday that follows another school board meeting of allegations and tension, it was announced that Mills would not wait two years and instead retire from the district this July.

The announcement comes just over two years after Mills was hired by the board after an extensive superintendent search, following his predecessor's admission of hiding millions of dollars in shortfalls.

As a former Lieutenant Colonel with a 24-year career in the Army and 12 years of prior executive-level experience in education in Minneapolis and Chicago, Mills has been seen by local supporters and detractors as an outsider to the Manatee School District and its culture, a status that both groups have used to argue either for or against him.

Many of Mills' supporters have argued that a district with a longstanding reputation for cronyism practices, such as promoting employees into positions that are usually reserved for people with higher qualifications, needs someone not entrenched in Manatee County politics to take charge of restoring its financial and academic credibility.

Since his hire, the district has recovered from 2012's deficit of $8.9 million via a new finance team and required budget cuts that were often unpopular, and expects to end the current year with a $16.5 million fund balance. There has also been improvement in test scores since the Tim McGonegal era, with district rankings going from 47 to 37 out of the state's 67 school districts.

Yet despite marked successes in finance and academics, Mills has been met with routine criticism almost from day one. Days after stepping onto the job as superintendent, school board member Dave Miner, who would become an adversary both in board meetings and outside of them, personally asked Mills to resign for allegedly plagiarizing another Superintendent's writing in his 100-day plan. Mills' plan had cited that superintendent's writing in some parts, though arguably not thoroughly enough.

Since then, Miner has criticized many of Mills' proposals in a manner significantly more vocal than his fellow board members. During meetings, he has often made assertions that "the community" has "dissatisfaction" and "mistrust" toward Mills, and has refused to meet with the superintendent outside of meetings.

Along with Miner, other prominent past and present Manatee County figures, many of whom were former administrators who supported the McGonegal administration, have come to oppose the superintendent and his team.

When Mills ordered an investigation into Manatee High School's baseball program after the district's currently embattled OPS Investigator Troy Pumphrey received an anonymous letter alleging that the program's coach Dwayne Strong was operating an illegal 'pay-for-play' program, it was also found that the school's athletic director and football coach, Joe Kinnan, had been aware of both the scheme and that Strong was not certified to coach, and had misled district officials while the investigation was underway.

Kinnan, who gave a different version of events than the ones stated in the written investigation and has disputed the charges, was eventually recommended for 10 days of suspended leave by Mills. Following the investigation, the school's athletic department was fined $13,300 and placed on probation by the Florida High School Athletic Association for policy violations within its baseball program.

News of the program's investigation and Mills' subsequent recommendation to suspend Kinnan, a beloved figure in the area and the county's winningest high school football coach of all time, soon drew outrage from many more community members. On Facebook, Bradenton City Councilman and Manatee High alumni Gene Gallo made a widely publicized post that criticized Mills, stating that the investigation was an attack on Manatee High and a "good old boys system that has been around a long time and works.“

Mills would dismiss the administrative complaint against Kinnan after the coach, coming back from medical leave, submitted a one-sentence retirement note to the district in early August of 2014. Kinnan would then hold a press conference saying that his character and integrity had been attacked by Mills. Later that month, he would send out an email to friends and supporters that noted whom he would personally be voting for in the school board's November election, saying it was "time for a change and it starts with a new board and then perhaps a new superintendent."

Mills has also faced a group of critics which he and supporters of his administration have dubbed "Westies" as they mostly reside in West Bradenton. In addition to arguing that Mills does not understand Manatee County culture enough to be an effective superintendent, many of those critics have frequently asserted a "climate of fear" over the county's schools since the superintendent took over, claiming that teachers who make up a body of over 2,000 unionized educators in the county have felt uncomfortable coming to meetings to address any concerns or issues they have out of fear of retribution.

In the last board meeting before the November 2014 election between then-board chair and Mills ally Julie Aranibar, and former MTC administrator Mary Cantrell, whose campaign was supported by a number of vocal opponents of the superintendent, several citizens came up to the dais with letters they claimed were written by anonymous teachers; those letters contained concerns about increased testing and fear of speaking out, among other issues.

Though there have been no cases of teachers receiving discipline for saying something that Mills has not liked, the board will talk about a planned climate survey of the district at Tuesday's workshop. The board will also discuss how to address allegations made against the superintendent at the meeting following the workshop.

That planned discussion comes in the wake of the board receiving a list of misconduct allegations against Mills at its April 13 meeting. The list was given to members by Manatee County resident Christine Sket, who asked that the board discuss "immediate suspension, investigation, or termination" of Mills that same evening. Kate Smith, another county resident and an attorney, advised the board that the allegations, at least some of which have been previously aired, included "numerous just cause grounds" for terminating Mills.

Those alleged just cause grounds for termination included the administration's failure to publicize an open evaluation committee meeting for review of private security firms, after Mills proposed using private armed guards in elementary schools as an alternative to police officers due to budget constraints; what Smith called "knowingly failing" to address OPS Investigator Troy Pumphrey, whom Mills suspended after the district received information regarding an expunged arrest that Pumphrey had failed to disclose; and what she called "violation of physical education and nutrition policy," and "failing to ensure" that the district "complies with all applicable policies and procedures."

Miner called the allegations "significant" and suggested a special meeting be held for board members and the public to discuss them. Instead, Board Chair Bob Gause advised that he would go over the allegations in private with Board Attorney James Dye.

When reached about the retirement announcement, Mills declined further comment.