Whether the deputy schools superintendent's contract will be renewed after June 30 will be a matter of debate for the School Board, whose members are questioning his responsibility in the financial scandal.

"It's not a foregone conclusion that Mike [Henriquez] will have a contract," board member Steve Pribramsky said Wednesday. "He was the direct supervisor; does that lack of action put him in jeopardy? We have to start at the top at the people with the real high jobs and their responsibility. We have to look from the top down."

Henriquez was the direct supervisor over former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo, who allegedly used her school district credit card for personal purchases. A Florida Auditor General's Office report criticized the district for many accounting shortcomings, including allowing Acevedo to approve her own purchases and not being aware that she failed to submit receipts and other paperwork for months.

As her supervisor, Henriquez was responsible for approving her monthly purchases, School Board policy states.

"If you guys had looked at this we wouldn't have lost a half-million dollars," board member John Dick told Henriquez during Tuesday's board meeting. "You have people going over their limit with their credit card across several departments and people are going to walk away because they are pointing the finger at the other side. Then both sides should be gone."

Henriquez defended himself, saying Acevedo submitted her paperwork directly to the Finance Department after his predecessor, Frankie St. James, retired. "There was never a payment request form submitted to me," Henriquez told the board. "For nine months, it was never submitted."

Henriquez didn't return The Citizen's e-mails or calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Henriquez joins other administrators whose actions are under review by Latour "LT" Lafferty, a public corruption attorney the board hired to guide it during the financial scandal. He will determine whether supervisory failure to notice financial misdeeds and follow credit card procedures rises to the level of firing.

Lafferty plans to tell the board on Tuesday which administrators it has legal grounds to fire.

"We have to see what the board wants to do and what we hear from the lawyers," Dick said Wednesday. "If Mike has not performed the duty of oversight, does that rise to any level of consequences? In my opinion, all of the district executive team was completely lax in its oversight duties."

The board also is considering whether it will renew contracts for Finance Director Kathy Reitzel, Transportation Director Dori Collins and Vocational Education Coordinator Mark Hooper, according to board Chairman Andy Griffiths.

As head of purchasing, Collins handled financial paperwork for construction and maintenance purchases under former Construction Director Charles Freeman. Hooper also failed to submit credit card receipts and spending requests through the proper channels for nearly a year, instead giving them to Acevedo.

"I'm going to wait and see what else [Lafferty] tells us on June 23," Griffiths said.

Henriquez's contract de-bate mirrors why Dick and Pribramsky said they didn't want him to serve as interim superintendent in the wake of the governor's suspension of Superintendent Randy Acevedo.

Acevedo was suspended without pay June 11 after a grand jury indicted him on a third-degree felony charge of official misconduct, allegedly for trying to cover up his wife's spending.

"Common sense would say we can't continue with Randy's right-hand man as interim superintendent," Pribramsky said. "There are so many other choices for someone from the outside. Any recommendations from Mike for board action on whatever could be tainted politically; we're trying to get rid of that."

As of Wednesday, five people had submitted applications for the post, according to Gov. Charlie Crist's spokesman, Sterling Ivey. They are: Sandi Bisceglia, a Stanley Switlik Elementary School teacher and former Plantation Key School principal; Christine Geary, an attorney and former district personnel director; Ken Davis, a 2008 candidate for Monroe County sheriff; Mary Casanova, head of Literacy Volunteers of America; and Phyllis May, a 2000 candidate for School Board.

"The Governor's Appointments Office is also reaching out to other parties outside of the district," Ivey said, "either independently or through one of the state education associations to gauge interest from other individuals."

The governor could appoint someone by Friday, Ivey said, adding "it may be delayed until next week so that more people have the opportunity to apply."

jguerra@keysnews.com