Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Monroe County School Board may seek a $90,000 refund from a company it hired to review the salaries and job descriptions of district employees, saying it did a shoddy job.

The Management Advisory Group failed to note that top school administrators did not meet state job requirements, and may have even changed those requirements for Monique Acevedo to qualify as adult education coordinator, board members John Dick, Steve Pribramsky and Chairman Andy Griffiths said.

The company failed to get the Florida Department of Education's permission to make the change and didn't notify the board of it, leaving the School Board potentially liable for state and federal grant money Acevedo administered, because she was not qualified to do so, Pribramsky said Wednesday.

Richard Fechter, hired to investigate the district's finances, told the board he would determine whether the Virginia-based company could be forced to repay the $90,000 it charged the district for the job in 2007.

"What were they doing here all this time and we weren't told that this was being done?" Dick said at a board meeting in Tavernier on Tuesday. "What did we spend our money on? We're now seeing that they knew some people weren't qualified?"

According to now-suspended Superintendent Randy Acevedo, the company changed the requirements for the job his wife had held for two years, as it compared employee pay with job duties. Carolyn Long, a company consultant, verified that in a May 21 e-mail to Dick. The company wrote job descriptions based on employees' answers about their job duties on an electronic questionnaire, Long said.

In Monique Acevedo's case, however, the term "coordinator" did not mean she was in charge of the department, Long said, noting that school districts use titles that are interchangeable for director, supervisor and coordinator. Acevedo's job resembled an office manager's position and didn't require master's level degree training or higher, Long said.

Acevedo's salary was $70,684; it is unclear whether that included supplemental pay.

"If you read the descriptions, the title of 'coordinator' for the adult ed position is used in the sense of a work 'coordinator' or responsible office manager and not as an alternative title to director," Long said. "The adult ed position is described as a very responsible office management position; this position provides assistance to the associate superintendent."

The Department of Education requires adult education coordinators to have "a professional certificate covering administration of adult education and a certificate at the master's degree-level or higher of training." The company wrote a job description requiring only a General Equivalency Degree and Florida driver's license, according to a May 21 e-mail from School Board attorney Richard Collins.

Acevedo was in charge of all adult education employees and drew a director's salary, Collins noted.

Pribramsky two weeks ago urged the board to contact the state and federal government agencies whose grants funded the department to determine whether the district should return money Acevedo spent.

"I think it would show them that we understand that there's been a problem and could mean a better relationship with the state and feds during this time," Pribramsky said. "We have a responsibility to make good on that money."

Collins also is reviewing state job requirements for the vocational education coordinator to determine whether Mark Hooper is qualified, Pribramsky said. His job was created by splitting former Adult Education Coordinator John Andola's position into two, the other being held by Acevedo.

jguerra@keysnews.com