Manatee School Board gets earful during public comment
BRADENTON -- The Manatee County School Board heard community concerns stressed during a marathon meeting Tuesday about the recent execution of a security contract, bus driver pay and the reduction in recess time for elementary school students.
The meeting garnered more than 58 public comment cards. Some attendees filled out more than one card to speak on multiple issues and others combined speaking on multiple issues into one three-minute timeframe. The meeting ended with board comments almost seven hours after its 5:45 p.m. start, adjourning at 1:05 a.m.
Board members took action on a number of contracts under the consent agenda and agreed to table recommendations to deny charter applications from the YMCA and Team Success Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.
Security concerns
Unarmed security guards employed by Sarasota Security Patrol began working in 31 of 33 Manatee County School District elementary schools a week ago but parents continued discussing the move Tuesday.
The guards are currently in the schools without guns while the district asks the attorney general to clear up the legality of the issue. The district sent the letter on Tuesday, Superintendent Rick Mills said during the meeting.
A number of commenters raised concerns over the speed of the contract process.
"In a very short time from that first time (the issue was discussed by the board), six weeks later we have a guard in the school," said Geneva Wilford.
District officials say the contract was not rushed and a community survey dictated the issue by confirming safety and security as a high priority. The community survey did not specifically ask about putting armed officers in the school.
In response to whether the contract process was flawed, Mills said he asked the district's internal audit company to move up the audit of the Purchasing Department. The human resources and payroll departments had originally been the high priority for internal auditors.
"We're moving back the payroll and human resources audits and we'll be jumping on the purchasing and contracts and working on those immediately following," said Neil Unruh, audit partner of Shinn & Co. of Bradenton, the district internal auditor.
No formal action was taken on the issue.
Bus driver pay
A contingent of district bus drivers appeared asking for more pay for services provided to Manatee County students. The board employs 169 bus drivers, 65 full-time aides, 14 sub-attendants and have allocations for 22 subs. The district only has five substitutes.
Bus drivers make between $12.03 and $19.40 an hour.
"Can any of you guys live on what we bring home? We need a raise," bus driver Judy Cumpston told the board. "You wonder why the morale is so low? You need to get on a bus."
As of Oct. 1, all bus drivers, with the exception of the substitute drivers, will have health benefits, sick days, discretionary day and paid holidays, according to the district. Pay is negotiated with the union.
The issue with bus driver pay has been ongoing for about six years, said Bruce Mohr. When a director of transportation retired, all the trouble started, Mohr said. Pay and benefits are common issues, but so is assigning special details by seniority.
Driver Al Wilson said bus drivers need to be paid as professionals since they provide a professional service.
"You can't keep a professional staff if you don't pay them," he told the board.
No formal action was taken on the issue.
Recess request
Impassioned pleas came from a number of speakers asking the board to increase the time students have in recess as opposed to physical education courses. The district uses recess and physical education classes to reach the state-mandated 150 minutes of physical education per week for children.
Parents said there's a difference between physical education in a structured classroom environment and recess, an unstructured playtime where students can blow off steam.
"PE doesn't replace recess. Recess doesn't replace PE," said Ken Lester, a parent of two elementary students. "I believe recess daily will help raise the test scores. Eliminating it will likely lower test scores."
Parent Kate Smith proposed changing the district physical education policy. Smith said the decision to reduce the recess rests with the board, not with the administration.
Smith said recess helps students learn, solve problems, reduce stress and relax.
"Taking away recess will not help our children perform academically," she said.
Diana Greene, deputy superintendent of instruction, said many schools exceed the 150-minute requirement and the district has other time requirements to meet as well.
"It is increasingly very difficult to find the time without cutting into not teaching science, not teaching social studies. Those are the first two sources that sort of get cut when we lose time," she said.
No formal action was taken on the issue.
In other business, the board:
Denied a charter application from Cortez. Two other charter applicants withdrew applications when informed the recommendation would be to deny the application.
Agreed to an extension before ruling on a charter application for Manatee Y Technological School, as the Y submitted a response to the district Tuesday and board members could not review the document before ruling on the application. Four YMCA officials, including an attorney, asked the board to reconsider.
Agreed to an extension before ruling on a charter application from Team Success STEM.
Awarded $21,626 in legal fees to Michael Barfield to settle a public records case.
Renewed contracts with local law enforcement agencies for school resource officer services in middle schools, high schools and Manatee Technical Institute.
Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.
This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee School Board gets earful during public comment."