Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The School Board demoted former Deputy Superintendent Mike Henriquez and disciplined two other department heads who share blame in an investigator's report on the collapse of supervision of credit card use and other misspending in the school district.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the board agreed that Henriquez will be "chief academic officer" as of Oct. 1.

Henriquez's pay also will be reduced from about $128,000 to $120,000 a year. Henriquez, who was acting superintendent after suspended Superintendent Randy Acevedo was removed from office in June by Gov. Charlie Crist, was blamed for not catching former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo's allegedly illegal purchases when he was her supervisor.

Superintendent Joseph Burke had at first recommended giving Henriquez the title of assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and accountability, but changed his mind in past weeks and came up with the chief academic officer title for him. Henriquez, however, will be acting superintendent when Burke is on vacation or out of town.

Henriquez will supervise professional, management and support staff; oversee directors of curriculum, instruction, assessment, student services, exceptional student services, as well as dropout prevention and other programs.

Lisa Cherry, director of purchasing, will be suspended for 10 days without pay and will be demoted to assistant director of purchasing. The district also voted during the meeting to begin looking for a replacement to supervise the purchasing department. Cherry was cited for failing to reject district credit card purchases exceeding $5,000.

In addition to assisting an eventual director if one is appointed, Cherry also will "monitor, approve and/or review all purchase transactions to ensure compliance with district policies, procedures and budget guidelines," her job description states. She'll also assist in writing bid proposals and other documentation when the district buys goods and services.

Dori Collins, transportation director, retains her title but will get a cut in her annual pay. She'll also be suspended without pay for 10 days. Collins also is accused of using another administrator's credit card, and of signing the name of Chuck Freeman, the now-retired head of construction for the district, on credit card purchases without telling the finance Department.

Reitzel defended

During public comment, the Rev. Chris Todd of St. Francis in the Keys Episcopal Church told board members that forcing Finance Director Kathy Reitzel to resign will prevent other finance directors and bookkeepers around the county from reporting theft and fraud in their organizations. Reitzel earns $500 a month in retirement and shouldn't have been fired, because she turned in former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo in March, he said.

"You don't think Kathy Reitzel ... didn't bring it up fast enough? Next time it will take that much longer," Todd said. "The bookkeepers of Monroe County have gotten the message: 'Don't rock the boat or you'll end up like Kathy Reitzel. You know what happens to heroes; they lose their careers.'

"The sociopaths and white-collar criminals know it's better to be caught doing wrong than to be caught exposing wrong. Don't make yourself a target like Kathy Reitzel. The children of Monroe County have learned this lesson in civics: 'If you try to do the right thing, they'll try to crush you like Kathy Reitzel.'"

School Board retreat

Burke told board members he wants a several-day retreat where he and the board and can put together a series of goals for the classroom and set achievement targets.

"It would be a time where the board and superintendent set some direction on where to go -- a game plan in place to move us to the next level," Burke said. "It's also something to get community support for. We need to determine a new mission, new direction, and actively engage other sectors of the community to help us do that."

A lengthy discussion on student achievement in reading, the benefits of various testing methods and a debate on whether Scholastic Aptitude Test preparation is more important to students' futures than the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test created a moment of laughter when board members agreed that they'd not spoken of core issues like testing in a long time. Their discussions in recent months had been on the school scandal.

"You'll have to forgive us," board member Duncan Mathewson said. "We haven't had this kind of discussion in months. We had to get it out."

Return of cell phones

Burke also introduced a limited cell phone, personal data assistant program that would be paid for under the Federal Communication Commission's E-rate program that assigns a portion of phone bills to pay for Internet use in libraries, schools and other public uses.

He hopes to give a few employees and administrators an allowance to cover only official use of their cell phones or PDAs. Only those employees who must be on call around the clock or spend more than half their time at work away from their desks or roam the length of the Florida Keys in their daily jobs will have the allowance, according to Burke's plan.

"The vast majority of districts have a cell phone policy that allows for blanket coverage program for certain classification of employees, using a variety ways of funding, such as e-rate or tiered reimbursement program," Burke said.

According to Burke, the E-rate program could pay for all but "34 cents on the dollar" for district cell phones and PDAs.

Under Burke's plan, only the superintendent and the board can approve who gets phones.

Instructional Technology Director Ken St. James described ways to closely monitor employee cell phone use and control costs.

All cell phones, PDAs and push-to-talk devices were turned off last spring as the school year ended, which is traditional. Some board members, however, complained that the school system was spending too much on employee telecommunications devices, such as Blackberries in the hands of top administrators, and traditional cell phones and service plans.

Board member John Dick is against paying cell phone and PDA bills for administrators because they still receive supplemental pay and better health insurance rates than teachers.

"When teachers no longer have to pay for classroom supplies out of their pockets, I'll consider paying for cell phones for administrators," Dick said.

Burke, however, said cell phone communication is a safety issue with a potential swine flu outbreak and other emergency situations such as storms, flooding and communications.

The board will decide on cell phone policy at a subsequent board meeting. Burke told board members he'd create a limited list of who would receive cell phones and PDAs.

The board also:

• Approved $1,079 to reimburse Burke for moving expenses when he moved to the Keys on Aug. 24.

• Heard from the Keys Center Academy and its goals for 2009-2010; the program helps at-risk youth. The academy just began admitting young men into the formerly all-girls program.

• Ironed out plans for an internal auditor and a finance audit committee that will review finance department records and other financial activities in the district. The committee will consist of five community members chosen by the board; two members chosen by Burke, and two nonvoting members. The internal auditor will answer to the board. The board will schedule public hearings before creating the positions.

jguerra@keysnews.com

(This story was corrected 9/23/09 to reflect that Purchasing Director Lisa Cherry was cited by auditors for failing to reject district credit card purchases exceeding $5,000. The original version incorrectly listed the cause for her disciplinary demotion.)