Manatee County schools superintendent Saunders announces plan to retire in 2023
Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, who has led the School District of Manatee County since 2018, announced her plan to retire at the end of the school year.
Saunders has spent more than three decades in public education. Her final day as superintendent will be June 30, 2023, at the end of her contract.
In a statement released to the media Friday, Saunders thanked the community for their support during her tenure.
“It has been the pinnacle of my career to serve as the superintendent in Manatee County,” Saunders said. “While we have been through some historic challenges — including a global pandemic, massive changes to school security in the wake of the Parkland tragedy and, most recently, Hurricane Ian — working closely with our school board members we have also recorded some historic accomplishments.”
Before becoming the superintendent in June 2018, Saunders previously joined Manatee County in 2013 to become the district’s executive director of secondary schools.
At that time, the district had 18 D- or F-ranked schools. In a press release, the district boasted that by the end of Saunders’ third year as superintendent, Manatee no longer had any D- or F-ranked schools.
School Board Chairman Rev. James Golden also showered Saunders with praise, noting that he has been impressed with how she led the district through difficult times.
“She has performed with consummate grace, grit and gravitas as she encountered and overcame many challenges and introduced and established innovative and imaginative educational initiatives,” Golden said. “Her decency, dignity, discipline and dedication have been a blessing to Manatee County and to Manatee County’s public schools.”
The district also credits Saunders with a number of new initiatives and partnerships in Manatee’s public schools, such as the world’s first Guy Harvey Academy of Arts and Science at Anna Maria Elementary School, the Agricultural Magnet at Myakka Elementary and the Dual Language Programs at five elementary schools.
Saunders’ tenure has not been without controversy, however. The superintendent came under fire in 2018 when the Florida Department of Education determined Saunders created a policy that inflated the district’s graduation rate.
Some residents have also accused Saunders of working with district officials to seize Palmetto’s Lincoln Memorial Academy, which came under the district’s control in July 2019 after a slew of allegations against the school’s principal and administration.
More recently, Saunders won the 2020 STAR Superintendent of the Year award from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations. In 2021, Saunders led a successful campaign asking to extend the 1-mill property tax referendum Manatee County voters first approved in 2018.
“Moving forward, I am committed to making sure we complete this school year in a strong way because that is what our students, parents and employees need and deserve,” Saunders said. “I will also work with the school board and community in the search for a new superintendent to continue the progress we have made academically, financially and in terms of community support.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 6:16 PM.
