Summary of Findings
Our inquiry of the District focused on the non-instructional aspects of the District's functions, particularly the construction of schools.
We have heard from some mid level managers that they can't discipline or fire lazy incompetent workers, thwarted by a timid personnel department and sometimes by protective Board members who must vote on every dismissal, yet we are aware of top level managers who openly talk of targeting whistle blowers, boat-rockers and other malcontents whose primary sin appears to be exposing flaws in the system and lack of leadership among senior staff.
Those employees find themselves transferred out of their positions to less desirable posts;transferred to the districts dumping ground, the book depository; or even outright fired for petty violations.
In short, we have a middle management staff that tolerates or is forced to tolerate incompetence, double-dealing, corruption and laziness but which in turn is always fearful of being targeted by upper management should they challenge interference by Board members or attempt to hold contractors accountable for their work.
Not that there aren't employees who work hard and do a good job, there are plenty of those.
But the ones who point out problems and advocate change are quickly marginalized and punished.
The culture of misfeasance and malfeasance at the school district is so deeply ingrained, so longstanding and so severe that we believe they will either be subsumed into the existing culture or drummed out of the District as soon as current attention is diverted from the Board and District.
As serious as the problems are at the District, the problems with the Board are even worse.
The Board has demonstrated an appalling lack of both leadership and awareness.
Rather than focusing on the big picture and looking to the challenges of the future, they have mired themselves in the day to day running of the District, a task for which they are singularly unqualified.
Their lack of background or expertise does not deter them from intruding into decisions such as selecting building contractors, deciding contract methods, interfering with personnel decisions, directing contracts to friends and acquaintances for consulting work, pushing unnecessary building projects in direct opposition to the advice of district officials, lobbying for construction change orders to benefit contractors, and even things as petty as manipulating the process to get the children of friends and family into specific schools.
Some of the consequences of allowing themselves to be mired in the micro-managing of the District are their complete failure to focus on the big picture and their lack of awareness of critical issues facing the District.
As an example, the Board has authorized the spending of billions over the last 10 years and has saddled Broward taxpayers with $2 billion in long term debt, and yet we have thousands of empty seats at underenrolled schools in the eastern portion of the county and critically overcrowded schools in the western part of the county and no concrete plans to address the problem.
We find that the current situation is a direct result of the Board's lack of vision, foresight, planning and leadership as well as a deliberate attempt to withhold information in order to keep building unnecessary space.
A great deal of taxpayer money spent on this construction has been wasted as the direct result of the Board's interference and self dealing as well as a result of their failure to engage in any meaningful oversight of the District's building activities.
For at least the last 15years the District has operated a facilities and construction department with little regard for quality, accountability or fiscal responsibility, yet the Board has done nothing to address these issues.
Despite warnings from the rank and file, their own internal auditors and even previous Grand Jury reports the Board for years has acted in apparent blissful ignorance of these critical issues.
To date, their strongest response has been to lash out at the auditors doing their jobs; attempting to kill the messengers, rather than deal with the issues they bring to their attention.
The Board's meddling into details that should be within the purview of the Superintendent has not helped the District deal with critical issues; instead it has worsened existing problems and created new ones.
The Superintendent also bears responsibility for allowing the meddling and interference to continue. Broward County in particular needs a strong Superintendent to stand up to the Board and remind them where the line is that separates the functions and responsibilities of the Board and Superintendent.
Previous Superintendents have done so to one degree or another and have suffered the consequences; something the current Superintendent is apparently unwilling to risk.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To the Broward County School Board:
1. Read the Broward County Grand Jury's "Interim Report of the 2002 Fall Term Grand Jury on School Board Construction" at: http://sao17.state.fl.us/GrandJurv2002.html
2. Refuse campaign contributions from contractors, vendors and others doing business with the Board.
3. Require mandatory ethics training and testing by an outside4. All late additions to the Board's agenda must be discussed at a public meeting.
5. Add more detail to agenda items or provide a link to where more information concerning the item can be found.
6. Reduce the threshold on spending items on the consent agenda.
7. Remove retainage reductions from consent agenda.8. Require documentation listed in Policy 7005 to accompany request for retainage reduction.
9. Require recommendation of the Superintendent or the Deputy Superintendent for reduction in retainage to be in writing and under their signature.
10. End the influence of the Board over the Building department by turning over inspections to local building departments.
11. Reduce number of school board members to 5.
12. Place before the voters the issue of electing the Superintendent
13. Create independent office of Inspector General to monitor the Board and District
14. Go back to hard bids from prequalified contractors. Prohibit bids from builders with outstanding issues.
15. Remove all involvement by Board members in the selection of contractors, vendors, or financial institutions.
16. No official business conducted between school board members and staff, nor should Board members attempt to influence staff regarding official business. All business should be done with Superintendent or manager of department, or personally at public school board meeting.
17. All bids should be opened in public, with Auditor there to certify bids met minimums.
18. No decisions, formal or informal, should be made anywhere other than a regularly scheduled board meeting.
19. No discussions should be had other than at Board meetings or workshops as per Sunshine Law requirements.
20. Prohibit gifts of any value to any Board member or District employee from anyone doing business with the District or lobbying the Board.
To the Legislature/State Department of Education:
1. Empower DOE to penalize Districts that don't file required paperwork by withholding any State funds until Certificates of Occupancy, Certificates of Final Inspection and Project Implementation Fonns are filed with DOE.
Respectfully submitted to the Honorable VICTOR TOBIN,
CHIEF JUDGE SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
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