With unanimous support, Manatee School Board extends Superintendent Saunders’ contract

The School Board of Manatee County has voted unanimously to extend Superintendent Cynthia Saunders’ contract to June 30, 2023.

Board member Scott Hopes made the motion, which was then seconded by Gina Messenger. Both said Saunders was an effective leader who would bring stability to a district that was navigating COVID-19 and the related challenges.

Their comments were echoed by board member James Golden. Speaking during Thursday’s meeting, he said the superintendent was responsive to board members and active in the community.

“I find no reason to not extend this contract two years while we prepare to go through the next set of crises that will confront us,” he continued. “Yes, we’ve navigated the coronavirus crisis, but now we’ve got to deal with the aftermath of that.”

Charlie Kennedy, the board’s vice chair, said he was originally in favor of a shorter extension before he, too, considered the need for stability. He also called the superintendent decisive and solution-oriented.

The two-year extension, he continued, would allow the board to conduct a “full-blown” superintendent search after the next year, should the board support that move.

“There was in writing — and if not in writing, certainly in our word — that when (former Superintendent Diana) Greene left we were going to do a search,” Kennedy said. “When we were here in February 2019, Superintendent Saunders went from being an interim to being, as she is now, our permanent superintendent.”

“I do think we need to acknowledge that the board has changed our mind,” he said of the national superintendent search.

The board’s newest member, Mary Foreman, favored a shorter extension and a national search for the next superintendent. Knowing she was outnumbered, Foreman supported the motion in a show of unity.

Before casting her vote, Foreman urged board members to consider holding a superintendent search and preparing the next leader before Saunders’ tenure was over.

“The board’s got a public trust problem,” Foreman said. “We were going to do a search and Mrs. Saunders wasn’t going to be able to apply for the superintendent position. Then, OK we’re going to give it to her but in two years she’s going to retire.”

“Now we’re saying, ‘Well, let’s do it another two years.’ That’s not helping the trust issue,” Foreman concluded.

The amendment pushed Saunders’ contract beyond its original expiration of June 30, 2021, and the other details — including an annual salary of $196,000 — remained the same. Hopes also pointed to a section that allowed either party to end the agreement with 90 days’ notice.

The original contract said board members and the superintendent had to agree on new terms by Dec. 31 if they wanted a contract extension.

When he originally moved to change the contract last week, Hopes suggested an 18-month extension. The board delayed its vote at the Dec. 8 meeting, shortly after a handful of public comments that urged more due diligence.

Hopes then changed his motion to a 24-month extension on Thursday.

Messenger said she agreed with the decision. An 18-month extension would have brought Saunders to December 2022, the middle of a school year. That was no time for major changes, the board member argued.

And though she supported a national search last year, Messenger said she came to appreciate Saunders’ work ethic and the need for consistent leadership.

“That’s not something you’re going to fully know until you’re sitting here and working with her,” Messenger said. “It’s a different perspective when you’re here and she’s calling you at 8 p.m., she’s still in this building working.”

Opinions were split nearly 50-50 during the time for public comment, when just over a dozen people addressed the board.

Saunders’ allies included former school board members Bob Gause and Dave Miner, along with Paul Sharff, the chief executive officer for the Early Learning Coalition of Manatee County.

Critics said the board was making a last-minute decision with very little input. Others pointed to the findings of a state investigation into Saunders, along with the possible discipline she still faces.

In 2018, then-Education Commissioner Pam Stewart issued a finding that Saunders “fraudulently inflated graduation rates” between 2014 and 2016, when she worked as the executive director of secondary education.

The Education Practices Commission rejected her settlement agreement in October 2019, calling the sanctions too light, and the case remains unchanged more than one year later.

“Our legal team is still working with Ms. Saunders’ legal team, so I don’t have an update,” Florida Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters said in an email Monday.

The school board could not be swayed by the ongoing case or Thursday’s critics. Shortly after they cast a unanimous vote in support of Saunders, the superintendent offered her gratitude and priorities.

The district, she said, would face the COVID-19 pandemic, embark on large construction projects and plan for the renewal vote on a one-mill tax referendum.

“I appreciate the support of the board,” Saunders said after the vote. “But not just the board — all of our employees, as well as the community. It’s been stated over and over again: the only way we’re successful is because we’re working collectively together.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 7:53 PM.