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Off the School Board, Danaher is on payroll
By MELANIE AVE © St. Petersburg Times, published April 20, 2001 TAMPA -- Five months after she lost a close race for a second term on the Hillsborough School Board, Sharon Danaher took her first full-time job in 20 years. Working for the school district. On March 15, Danaher began work in a new position as an administrative resource teacher in the special education department. She beat out 13 applicants including two finalists with more school experience. Her $37,175 salary is about $2,000 more than School Board members earn. The School Board okayed her hiring Tuesday. One of the three finalists for the position, Jane Maher, said she was surprised the district hired Danaher and wonders whether it was a "cut and dried deal before I even got the application." The other finalist works as a special education specialist at Walker Middle School. Maher, 65, said she felt extremely qualified for the position as a former elementary teacher and parent of two learning-disabled sons. She said she could have understood if the district had hired someone with more education experience. But a defeated School Board member? "Wow. That's kind of a high-level position to come in at," said Maher, who last worked for the Diocese of St. Petersburg establishing a resource center for parents of disabled children in 1994. "Maybe she has excellent skills?" Jack Lamb, the retired school administrator who defeated Danaher in September, said he wants to make sure Danaher's hiring was on the up-and-up. "I've asked if they've followed procedure, but I haven't gotten any answers," said Lamb, who found out about the hiring this week. "I'm sure the district must have followed procedure." Ed McDowell, director of the district's exceptional student education department and Danaher's supervisor, said Danaher was given no preference. "Sharon was hired largely because of her knowledge and contacts in the community and her ability to network," he said. The position is one of two new jobs created to strengthen communication with parents of special needs students, McDowell said. Danaher is working in the district's parent and family resource program, which began a year ago. Danaher said she views the position as a way to finish a job undone. "I can do things quietly in the background where certain doors are shut to you as a board member," she said. In 1996, Danaher, a school volunteer and homemaker, was one of nine people to run for the open board seat in northern Hillsborough County. Neither the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association nor the Florida School Boards Association sees a problem with Danaher's new job. "I wouldn't hold it against her just because she was on the School Board," said Yvonne Lyons, executive director of the teachers union. Special education "was her focus the whole time on board. She was very much a teacher advocate on those types of issues." Wayne Blanton, executive director of the School Boards Association in Tallahassee, said Danaher's situation isn't common, but "It's not particularly unusual. Once they're no longer on the School Board, they're a citizen just like you and I. They're entitled to seek employment wherever they want." Danaher, 52, isn't the first Hillsborough School Board member to go to work for the district. In 1995, the district hired Sam Rampello as supervisor of the federal finance program after he decided not to seek re-election the previous year. He had been on the School Board for 18 years. Danaher received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Jacksonville University and worked with the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services from 1973 to 1981 and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles from 1971 to 1973, according to her resume. Danaher said she quit working after the birth of her second child to raise her children. Danaher, who has one gifted child and two children with learning disabilities, is establishing resource centers in each of the district's eight area offices with information on the myriad programs available to disabled children. "They knew my work," Danaher said. "They know once I start working I don't stop." - Melanie Ave covers education and can be reached at (813) 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com.
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