BY ANITA TODD, Special Reports
Note: In an earlier version of this article, a quote from Michael Flood was mistakenly credited to Rafael Unzueta. We profoundly apologize to Mr. Flood & Mr. Unzueta for this mistake. The corrected version of the article follows.
LAKE WALES – Addressing rumors created by mistrust among those in the Lake Wales Charter School system wasn’t on the meeting’s agenda. However, it was a topic discussed at length during the Board of Trustee Work Session on Jan. 21.
The meeting focused almost entirely on rewriting the system’s bylaws. Much of that discussion focused on what the new leader of the organization will be called: Superintendent, CEO or something else and how the changes will affect the organizational chart.
Lori Hutto, Trustee, PhD in Education and the Chair of the Education Department, Warner University, was the first to bring up the subject.
“Going back to the organization chart … I just want to caution that there is still a lot of mistrust among our employees. I’ve heard from principals and teachers that we were going to vote on our organizational chart tonight with the intention of appointing. So, I’m okay with us revisiting, but I really want to caution us to get the input of our principals if we are going to revisit our organizational structure,” Dr. Hutto said.
‘Because being in education, I feel like the top person needs to be something academic in their title. And, going to CEO, if I was a principal in the system, I would feel this board is taking my power away by naming the head person the CEO because we have said over and over our principals are the CEOs of their schools. I would just be afraid of that … just the interpretations that people may have … just to get more input if we are going to revisit the organizational structure.”
“We are not voting on any of these items tonight,” said Danny Gill, Chair of the Board of Trustees, MBA, Marion Nelson Funeral Home. “This is just all discussion.”
Andy Blair, Trustee, Pastor and Executive Director at Refuge on the Ridge, spoke about the need to stay focused on the children’s educations and not the rumors.
“We spend so much time worried about whose got what job, whose doing what in the central office. We need to be worried about the education of our kids, and what’s happening in our schools. Principals don’t run the system. They need to run the schools. They need to be worried about facilities, test scores, staff development … things like that,” he said. “This rumor stuff about we are trying to do this … I don’t have time for that. Nope! None of us do. We have other things to do. So, these rumors that go around… They are just rumors. People are going to talk. You can’t stop it. I just wish I knew where all this came from.”
Michael Flood, Trustees, said that he had also heard that the Board was going to select a new Superintendent during that same meeting.
“I understand that rumors can be frustrating. Working on this board, I really do believe that all of you are up here in good faith, but I think it is a mistake to dismiss the distrust among the employees because it is real and what Dr. Hutto said before … I fielded a whole bunch of questions. I literally got multiple emails saying, ‘They are picking the CEO tonight.’ That’s not what’s happening … that’s not on the (agenda) … but to straight out dismiss it is to say that there is a fundamental mistrust among the employees, and we are going to ignore it. It’s a real thing,” Flood said.
Blair said he didn’t want to be misunderstood. “I’m saying that we have a cultural issue and we gotta fix it. I know it is real. Trust me. I hear it myself. I’m just telling you that from my perspective, I don’t know how to fix that because it does come about. The rumors come about. Who in the world would say that we are going to pick a CEO today? I mean, who makes that up? … Where does that come from? I think it’s a long-standingcultural sickness that we have and we gotta fix it,” he said.
This comes after years of rumors and mistrust in the System, most recently concerning the hiring and firing of ex-Superintendent Wayne Rodolfich.
During the meeting, the Board discussed the Bylaws and revisions although no final decisions were made. The next meeting will be held Feb. 24.
Gill said the next leader of the LWCS system will not be determined during that meeting but at a later date.
