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Pinellas school official resigns

Given an ultimatum, an associate superintendent decides to end a 33-year career with the district rather than return to a previous position.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published May 17, 2006

Resign within 24 hours, Wilcox told Jan Rouse, or return to your previous job as director of special education.

Rouse, 58, decided last week to resign as associate superintendent of curriculum. She will retire, effective June 8, after 33 years with the district.

It is not clear who, if anyone, will be assigned to replace her.

"I think it comes down the fact that Dr. Wilcox and I do not share compatible philosophies," said Rouse, the district's second-highest-ranking female administrator. "After a lot of soul searching, it seemed to be in my best interest and in the best interest of the curriculum division to go."

Rouse is the third top administrator to leave the district in recent weeks. School Board member Jane Gallucci said there is no connection between the departure of Rouse and that of school spokesman Sterling Ivey and transportation director Tony Dzielski, both Wilcox hires, who resigned in April.

Wilcox, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, sent a memo to School Board members shortly after meeting with Rouse and a staff attorney. He described the decision to ask Rouse to resign as difficult.

Gallucci acknowledged that Wilcox's and Rouse's relationship was "bumpy" when Wilcox first came to the district in 2004. But she thought the two had begun "working together."

"No one ever said to me, "Jan and Clayton are having a really hard time,'" Gallucci said. "I don't think professionals do that. They try to work things out. But if they can't, someone has to cry uncle."

Board member Linda Lerner said that while Rouse never hesitated to express her opinion, she always was respectful toward Wilcox.

"When the superintendent set something in motion, she did everything in her power to carry it out," Lerner said.

But Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, said Rouse's departure will send a chilling message to School Board employees who disagree with the superintendent.

"Last year it was the principals who got thrown under the bus three weeks before school got out," said Moore, referring to a reorganization that sent 15 principals to other schools. "This time (Wilcox) is throwing possibly the highest-ranked administrator under the bus the last week of school."

Wilcox began talking about changing the district's top managers in his early days on the job. He wrote a memo about "assorted hangers on" at district headquarters and has said more than once that the administrative staff was too large.

The day before his conversation with Rouse, he sent a memo to School Board members indicating that he was considering several changes to the current organizational scheme.

"The changes will require some reassignments and the realignment of some services," Wilcox wrote. "I only offer this now because ... I wanted you to be in a position to at least say that while you do not have specific information at this time you are aware that I am contemplating making some changes to our organizational charts."

Rouse came to the district in 1972 as a teacher of gifted students at Ozona Elementary. She taught at Dunedin and Eisenhower elementaries before becoming supervisor of the gifted program, where she helped develop a curriculum for gifted math students.

She became director of exceptional student education in 1996 and was promoted to associate superintendent in charge of curriculum in 2003.

A 2004 evaluation conducted by former superintendent Howard Hinesley, the most recent report the district said it could release, rated her "highly effective" in all categories.

Rouse, who currently makes $105,000, said on Monday that her work with families of children with disabilities convinced her that all students can learn.

"It absolutely solidified my belief that instruction can be tailored and customized for a group of youngsters," she said.

Despite what she described as a difficult relationship with Wilcox, Rouse said she has enjoyed a rewarding career.

"I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have worked in this district all these years and to have had so many positive relationships with my colleagues at the school and the district level," she said.

[Last modified May 17, 2006, 06:18:43]