The Monroe County school district is suing a company it says illegally changed job requirements to ensure the employment of certain school administrators, including one accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the district.

The district wants the company to return the nearly $90,000 in consultant fees it charged the district as well as unspecified damages worth more than $15,000, the suit states.

Management Advisory Group Inc. (MAG), hired by the district in March 2007 to study administrative salaries, benefits and supplemental pay schemes, instead illegally reduced minimum job requirements of key administrators so they could keep their jobs, including former Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo.

It is against the law to hire unqualified people as directors, department heads or other key positions in which the requirements are outlined in state statutes.

The lawsuit alleges MAG reduced minimum state requirements for employees in several key positions who failed to do their jobs properly, the lawsuit states.

In perhaps the most visible example, the lawsuit states the Legislature requires the office manager/coordinator of the "Adult and Vocation Education Department" to have a master's degree level certification, which Acevedo did not have.

The suit alleges MAG changed the state requirements to a driver license and a high school diploma to match Acevedo's educational background.

Acevedo stands trial in October for allegedly defrauding and stealing from the district to the tune of at least $418,000, prosecutors have said. She resigned her post in March 2009.

Job requirements in school systems can be downgraded, but only with written permission by the state Department of Education. The district never sought that permission, the lawsuit claims.

School Board member Steve Pribramsky said MAG tried to please the school administration when it did the report. Acevedo is married to Randy Acevedo, who was the schools superintendent at the time.

"It was a contrived outcome for Monique and other employees who were given high-paying jobs," Pribramsky said.

In its lawsuit, the district says as a result of MAG's changing job requirements, the school system lost money and overpaid its staff without receiving appropriate skilled labor in return.

"The School Board overpaid for employees under-qualified for positions, therefore wasting resources," the suit states.

Because MAG changed the job requirements to match under-qualified people, it also caused the district to lose money through theft and other mismanagement of money, the lawsuit states. Administrators who applied for grants and spent the money also put the district at risk of being forced to repay those grants, the lawsuit states.

The suit alleges MAG reduced the job requirements of other jobs held by longtime supporters of the former schools superintendent, who was ousted after being convicted of three counts of official misconduct for attempting to hide his wife's alleged theft. Those positions include:

• Director of facilities, held by Chuck Freeman until he retired in June 2009. He is the subject of an ethics complaint the district filed last month because he did not report that his son was being paid $71,000 by an outside contractor the district hired to build a concession stand on school property;

• Transportation director, held by Dori Collins until she retired in May. She was cited in a financial investigator's report to the School Board for not following district policies for school credit card use;

• Safe schools specialist, held by Sunny Booker;

• Employee benefits and risk management specialist, held by Wanda Menendez;

• Information Services assistant director; and

• Systems analyst, programmer.

It's not known who ordered or requested MAG to change the job requirements. CEO Carolyn Long has said she will not comment on the study the company performed for the district and did not return calls for comment Monday regarding the lawsuit.

In MAG's final report that listed the new job requirements, one of the company's listed goals was to "create/develop or revise job descriptions for all classifications."

MAG based its job descriptions on information employees provided in an online survey, in which they stated their educational backgrounds, job descriptions, extra duties and salaries, the report says.

jguerra@keysnews.com