Monroe County school board members approved a three-year contract for incoming superintendent Ed Tierney during a June 10 Monroe County school board meeting in Key West.
Tierney, the former deputy superintendent at Palm Beach schools will receive an annual salary of $199,500 with yearly increases at the same percentage as the rest of staff. He also receives $5,000 annually for civic organizations and activities, an $850 monthly vehicle allowance and county medical and retirement plans.
In May, the school board’s five-month search for its next superintendent ended with the selection of Tierney. The board voted to hire him over two local finalists — Amber Archer Acevedo, the deputy superintendent, and Laura Lietaert, the principal of Coral Shores High School.
In other matters, a consent agenda containing 32 items addressed the school district’s operating budget and two contracts, capped at $4 million each, for computers and software purchased as needed from United Data Technologies and CDW-Government.
Classrooms throughout the district feature large touch-panel displays that replaced chalkboards and erasers along with movie screens and projectors. Every staff member has school-provided technology that often includes simultaneous translation devices for dealing with students and parents who do not speak English. Students have Chromebooks with specialized features for both safety and learning.
The contracts for software and equipment as needed don’t include the educational software used by students and teachers. There are various contracts for math tutoring programs, English learning programs and other supplemental programs amounting to over $2 million..
During the meeting, board member Sue Woltanski noted, “We never get feedback on whether these educational programs give us results.”
Board member John Dick commented, “You only hear about it when a parent has a problem with the program.” Theresa Axford, the outgoing superintendent, responded that she would provide a report at the next school board meeting.
The district’s operating budget includes just under $128 million in revenue from property taxes. During an address to the Upper Keys Rotary Club earlier in the day, state Rep. Jim Mooney stated he is on a special committee to examine property taxes as part of an upcoming state referendum, but that he saw no changes coming for the school district or special taxing districts like mosquito control.
Mooney also said that the school district would receive $3.5 million in state funds to refurbish historic Bruce Hall in Key West to serve as the new administrative offices for the district. This is part of a larger initiative to relocate 52 district employees from the current administration building on Trumbo Road, which would be demolished and used to create approximately 150 housing units specifically for teachers and staff. This is a public and private initiative and planners hope to have it complete by 2027. The board approved negotiating with TVC Development to write the request for proposal for the Trumbo Road project.
The board also renewed the contracts for school resource officers from both the Key West Police Department and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. At a prior meeting, board member Dick said, “the state mandates what the statute calls ‘Safe School Officers’ and the state provides some funds to support the program.”
Dick said the cost of the SROs provided by MCSO and the KWPD totals $2,753,547. The state provided $1,048,089. The remaining $1.7 million comes from property taxes.
School board chair Mindy Cohn expressed concern about one aspect of these contracts. She said, “the sheriff regularly gives money back to the county from his budget. But the school district doesn’t get anything back.” The new contract with the Monroe County Sheriff for school resource officers is for $1,866,887.
Axford told the board that because of new legislation, the district would need specific written policies on cell phone use by students in schools. Students in elementary grades would be completely restricted and high school students would have significant restrictions. The exceptions to the restrictions have to be carefully spelled out.
