Manatee County public schools Superintendent Diana Greene earns top marks in school board evaluation

Only six months on the job as superintendent of Manatee County public schools, Diana Greene has earned high marks for her job performance. Five of six school board members gave her the highest marks possible -- 10s on a scale of one to 10 -- in most categories. That certainly reflects board confidence in her leadership.

Greene, however, scored her performance with lesser marks, not surprising given her driven character. She puts a lot of pressure on herself and told the Herald she needs more experience beyond six months to gain confidence to rank herself higher on her self-evaluation. We get that.

But her steady leadership has righted a ship that had been taking on water, even though former Superintendent Rick Mills brought the district back from a financial deficit and disaster while alienating a portion of the community that fought back with vigor.

Greene's dynamic people skills are a breath of fresh air. Her modesty is, too.

"First of all, I don't think there's anything in six months that I can say I'm a complete expert in, and I should be well above expectations," she told the school board during Tuesday's review of her review. "I don't have any 10s."

Well, we beg to differ. Dr. Greene's promotion to the top district leadership post has been a significant reason the healing process from past indiscretions and failures under several previous administrations has been progressing.

Her outgoing nature and broad community engagement has served her and the public well.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County public schools Superintendent Diana Greene earns top marks in school board evaluation ."