Tag: School Board
Clarifying the record on the Tenoroc investigation
The Polk School District is investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Tenoroc High School Principal Jason Looney. This investigation started at some point in July. Several of the complainants, including the woman most directly affected, came to me with their stories. I forwarded them to our HR officials and top staff. I told our staff through internal emails that I…
The line must be drawn here. Start with Level raises.
As of today, I consider it mandatory that we honor previously established Level raises (sometimes known as steps) for all Polk School District employees. It will cost us about $4.3 million. We have the money to do it. It’s a simple choice between fulfilling our core function for our community or maintaining a “growing savings account” of dead money that…
Impasse, part 1: Listen to your School Board members lay out their visions of public service
The video below comes from the Dec. 13, 2016, School Board work session — my first work session as a board member. This hour-long excerpt covers the discussion of School Board Attorney Wes Bridges’ three-year contract. This contract automatically renews every year. It has no practical mechanism for removing Bridges without paying him at least $450,000. Lynn Wilson and I…
Wes Bridges has tenure no teacher can dream of
If the School Board chooses to non-renew Wes Bridges’ contract before January 1, he will still be guaranteed his job until 2019. And our only recourse, as a board, will be to buy out his contract in full. That will mean writing him a $450,000 check, plus whatever vacation and incidental costs he would be owed. He might as well…
Wes Bridges’ resignation/contract is STILL not on any agenda
I’ll have a fuller discussion soon of the rather fascinating issues raised by the great Townsend/Fields Sunshine Law kerfuffle of 2016. But I do want to say this now: public officials should be scrutinized, myself included. We should not whine about it — or hide from it. Indeed, that’s why I personally forwarded the emails in question to The Ledger….
Register by Aug. 1. Vote on or before Aug. 30. Everywhere in Polk County
As we travel the county and talk to people, we encounter some very understandable uncertainty about the rules and timing of voting in my August 30 School Board election. Here are the top three points we want to make. 1) Every registered voter in Polk County can vote for me. From Poinciana to Mulberry. From Frostproof to Polk City. The…
