Hillsborough schools near deadline set by consultant
By Times Staff
Published October 19, 2004
TAMPA - A consultant who said she designed a public relations program for Blake High School has demanded the Hillsborough County School District pay $32,400 for her work or face a lawsuit.
Thomasena Holloway, who lives in Fort Mill, S.C., said she assembled the program and secured sponsors at the request of Blake principal Jacqueline Haynes.
No one seems to dispute her work, but school attorney Tom Gonzalez said Holloway was a volunteer who was never hired.
The school district has paid Holloway $3,200.
Holloway said she put in 735 hours from December through August writing a brochure, recruiting corporate sponsors, calling parents and taking students on two field trips.
In her letter to School Board chairman Glenn Barrington, Holloway demanded the district pay her by Wednesday.
"I believe it would be very difficult for the School District of Hillsborough County to explain to a jury of my peers why it is unwilling to compensate me at a rate of $40 per hour of work that I clearly performed but has, in fact, employed an Attorney at a rate of more than $200 ... to figure out ways and reasons not to pay me," she wrote.
