It's Your Money

Our latest review of School District happenings has been centered on the issues raised over hiring practices. Recent School Board meetings have indicated a continuing rift between the Superintendent and School Board over selecting new employees. Filling critical open positions is a fundamental requirement and the lack of these essential employees is a significant cost to taxpayers as consultants perform the required tasks. .

Our review of the subject found that it is very difficult to appropriately assign blame. However, it is evident that the School Board and Superintendent are NOT working together to rapidly solve the problem. In a perfect world the School Board would set policy and let the Superintendent and staff carry out those policies with reasonable oversight. At this point the School Board is aggressively challenging District hiring practices and individual appointments – while several critical jobs remain unfilled a year after the new Superintendent and Board were seated.

This situation begs many questions. Is the Superintendent putting forth the best-qualified person(s) for the job? Are Board members being helpful or obstructive? Are the written qualifications for individual jobs too rigid? Are the contracting/financial irregularities uncovered by the Superintendent affecting hiring approvals?

We have addressed those questions in a number of venues including discussion with individual School Board members, District Staff and our Schools Committee’s meetings with the Superintendent. Possibly as a result of our inquiries, one of our MCTA officers was invited to participate in the selection committee for the District’s new Director of Operations. This committee consisted of a School Board member, three senior District Staff representing the Superintendent, Human Resources and Information Technology, and our “Community Representative”.

There were some 40 applications received from around the US for this nationally advertised position. Most were eliminated due to obvious deficiencies and the result was 11 candidates who met the majority of written requirements. The Committee’s task was to down-select through a lengthy formal interview process. The first round of interviews resulted in 5 candidates being selected by formal scoring procedures. Since two of those selected were via long distance telephone a second round of face-to-face interviews was delayed two weeks to allow for travel and scheduling. Following the second round of interviews the Committee eliminated two candidates and forwarded the three deemed best capable of performing the job to the Superintendent. She will decide which of the three to present as her choice to the School Board.

It was certainly eye opening to view and participate in the process. On the positive side, the District Staff members displayed knowledge, thoroughness and dedication to the process. On the negative, it was amazing to see first hand some of the constraints being placed on filling critical vacancies.   Without violating the confidentiality agreement required to be on the committee, it is difficult to directly address the problems observed with specificity. However, the main issue is the rigidity of the formal education, experience and other requirements deemed by the School Board as absolutely mandatory for each position.

It is always good to seek the very best person possible, especially for a critical position. However, our Board members have participated in filling many senior positions in the private sector, civil service and Fortune 100 corporations and find it amazing to observe the unthinking reliance on preset requirements. Our experience shows a person without an MBA may be fine if it is offset with years of demonstrated excellence in positions requiring applicable skills and experience. Also, the number of years of Florida School experience may be less applicable to a thoughtful selection than demonstrated professionalism in a similar position in another state or industry.

In summary, we appreciate being given the opportunity to participate in the process. We hope that the School Board will realize that when filling senior positions it is often the candidate with a history of successfully applying knowledge gained through experience that will be the best employee. In the absence of just cause they should approve the Superintendent’s hiring selections that have been properly vetted and then hold her responsible for the result. At this time they need to work with her to quickly fill the key vacancies in District Staff.

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We want to thank the Martin County Commission for their unanimous vote to cut the amount of paid-time-off that can be accumulated and restricting the amount of PTO that can be sold to $1,500 per year. We agree with the limited sell back policy and believe that these changes are a needed start toward a sustainable benefit program for the County.