Argus Foundation brought Bowden contract concerns to DeSantis

Sarasota’s most prominent business organization is not happy with the Sarasota County School Board.

The Argus Foundation complained to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran regarding Superintendent Todd Bowden’s contract, according to a copy of a letter dated March 26 that was first made public at Tuesday’s School Board workshop.

The letter was ultimately passed on to the state Office of Inspector General, which determined the “concerns do not fall within our authority.”

In February, Bowden secured a controversial four-year deal that provides him with guaranteed annual raises and requires a 4-1 supermajority vote of the board to fire him.

The complaint alleges that the process was shrouded in secrecy and that Bowden had been given a “golden parachute.”

“The system could be failing with kids not learning, graduation rates and test scores plummeting and kids not reading, but the superintendent would still receive a raise,” wrote Keith Mercier, president of the Argus Foundation.

Board members Eric Robinson and Bridget Ziegler voted against Bowden’s contract.

A copy of the letter was forwarded to board members once the OIG determined it was not within its purview. School Board Chairwoman Jane Goodwin announced the letter at Tuesday’s board meeting and said she was not happy that an organization affiliated with spouse of a board member was filing complaints with the governor.

Robinson’s wife, Christine, is executive director of the Argus Foundation, and Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, serves on the County Commission and has been critical of board decisions. Goodwin said she is tired of hearing dissenting board members’ spouses voice their opinion on School Board issues.

“It’s very frustrating because I feel like we have seven members on the board, not five,” Goodwin said during the workshop. “I hear things that Christian says and I hear things that Christine says and it is painful to me because it is about School Board business.”

Goodwin’s comments sparked a heated conversation over whether spouses in influential positions can chime in on board decisions. Ziegler and Robinson nearly always find themselves in the minority on split board decisions, and both are married to community leaders with their own platforms.

Robinson objected to the notion that he gets his message out to the public by using his wife, who formerly served on the County Commission.

“She is an independent woman,” Robinson said. “It’s not 1920 in my household. It’s 2019.”

On Tuesday Goodwin said she would appreciate the Argus Foundation bringing its concerns directly to the board, rather than writing letters to the DOE. Christine Robinson responded in an interview on Thursday by pointing out that Goodwin had said in a television news interview that the board did not want outside opinions on Bowden’s contract.

“I heard (Goodwin) say they should have come to us and talked to us, but she publicly said she didn’t want public input,” Robinson said.

As the conversation wound down Tuesday, Bridget Ziegler chastised Goodwin for bringing a conversation about spouses into a public board meeting.

“It is totally inappropriate, totally inappropriate for this conversation to take place,” Ziegler said. “It shouldn’t be about pointing fingers or personal relationships or people working behind the scenes. ... We should be more focused on (the concerns raised in the Argus Foundation letter).”

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