Learning curve

Superintendent John Sanders has done much good for the district in his five-year tenure, many say. But he says there still is work to be done.

By ROBERT KING

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 13, 2000

[Times photo: Maurice Rivenbark] John Sanders listens during a School Board meeting.

John Sanders has been in Hernando County long enough that the staff at Mykonos II, a restaurant in Brooksville, knows that the Greek salad is one of his lunchtime favorites.

He has been in Hernando County long enough to gain intimate familiarity with the golf course at GlenLakes, where he has a respectable 11 handicap.

What's citrase, Sanders has been here long enough to see the public's perception of the school district change from that of a bumbling backwater to one that, many say, finally has a sense of direction that borders on outright stability.

In Hernando County -- where the entire School Board was indicted in 1992 for open meetings violations, where the debt has rivaled that of Third World countries and where the district spent $585,000 in legal fees one year to recover $245,000 -- that is no small accomplishment.

Sanders, who came here from an administrative job in the Jackson, Miss., school system, took over as Hernando County's superintendent on Sept. 1, 1995. He begins his sixth school year in Hernando on Monday.

Despite a few bumps in the early going and some lingering criticism, it has been five years of relave calm in the board room, steady improvement in the classroom and growing support in the community.

"I think he's made us a professional school system," said Doris Bedell, a retired recreational therapist whose attendance record at School Board meetings for the past decade is better than most elected board members.

Denise Gill, president of the county Parent-Teacher Association and a mother whose children have been in Hernando schools for 18 years, liked Sanders from the beginning. He doesn't play games, she said, and he is brutally honest even when he disagrees with you.

"I'm not naive enough to think everybody is happy. But there have been so many improvements in the county. The trust level is much higher than it was before," Gill said. "It's like night and day from what it was before."

John Weber, who has worked for the school system for 14 years and coordinated 4-H Club programs for several years, compares Sanders' acceptance to that of a man some consider a Hernando County institution.

"I think this man has more community support than any other superintendent than Ken Austin," Weber said. Austin retired in 1988.

In a county where public skepticism about school spending was an art form, voters had enough confidence in Sanders and the School Board in 1998 to support a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for a new high school.

The change in attitudes is so great that Sanders considers it his single greatest accomplishment. "I think people see us as a good team going in a positive direction -- and I don't think that was the case before."

Coach with a loyal team

Sanders' team primarily includes the School Board, which has had its ups and downs with him, and his staff, which displays amazing loyalty to its boss.

Graydon Howe, a veteran architect often praised for his management of school construction, says he would resign as facilities director rather than work for another superintendent. Sanders does things right, he said, even if it means spending a little money to make it so.

Edd Poore, the district's personnel director, left a 27-year career in the school district and entered private industry. When he met Sanders, he decided to come back.

"I think he makes decisions for the right reasons," Poore said.

Amy Wilson has worked in the county schools for 32 years, including the past two as training coordinator. Now just four years from retirement, she regrets that her career and Sanders' career did not overlap more.

"I wish I had more years of my career to work with him," she said.

Throughout the district, people say Sanders encourages them to try new things. Most important, they say, he trusts them to make it work.

"He lets me do my thing. I appreciate that. I work best like that," said J.D. Floyd Elementary School principal Janet Yungmann-Barkalow. Sanders' philosophy: "If I have to do my staff's job, I don't need my staff."

Weber, the vocational director, said Sanders encourages discussion, frequently works by committee and is not dictatorial. "He's not ethereal. He's not above reproach," Weber says. "He's the type of guy that you can stick your head in his door and talk to him."

When the brain trust gathers around his conference table, there is a fair amount of needling among Sanders and his lieutenants. But it's clear who is in charge. At a recent meeting, someone made what was couched as a "reasonable request."

Sanders response: "Reasonable, but no."

In some ways, it has taken these five years for Sanders' philosophies to fully take shape. Some of his directives have not made headlines. But people in the district think they are making a difference.

When he arrived, Sanders told the personnel office to make sure class sizes in the elementary school grades were below standards set by the Southern Association of Colleges and School. Beyond that, he ordered that kindergarten and first-grade classes be even smaller.

Through the 1998-99 school year, the last from which statistics were available, Hernando County's class sizes were noticeably smaller than the state average.

When Sanders arrived, he reshuffled the district administration, creating a stand-alone department for academic instruction that never existed before. Two assistant superintendents -- one for elementary school, one for middle schools and high schools -- now focus entirely on academics.

Previously, one overburdened assistant covered all schools while also overseeing personnel, special education and federal programs.

"He's made it clear and he's sent a message to people in the district office that instruction is the key," said Charles Casciotta, who now oversees middle school and high school curriculum. "When he says that, it makes people stand up and take notice."

Teacher training has been given greater emphasis since Sanders' arrival, teachers and administrators say. He added a training coordinator to line up sessions for teachers and staff. Wilson, who runs the department, says her budget will grow 10 percent this year alone.

Schools are being encouraged to develop curriculum themes -- the arts and a microsociety at Chocachatti Elementary, a similar program at Powell Middle School, a fundamental school at Brooksville Elementary and technology programs at several schools.

And Sanders, at age 64, has embraced the ideas of the Information Age. He came up with a proposal to integrate laptop computers into the everyday curriculum at two middle schools. It fizzled this year but promises to return next year.

Sanders and computer guru Becky Myers came up with a deal to put $1.8-million worth of computers in the middle schools and high schools at no cost. He's even taken to carrying a computerized planner that fits in the palm of his hand -- though he says it doesn't feel natural.

Gail Coleman, who was the School Board chairwoman during Sanders' first year, said the board was looking for a strong leader as a change of pace from Sanders' successor, Harold Winkler, who had a reputation for doing everything by committee.

In Sanders, Coleman said, the board not only got a strong leader but a "man's man."

"You need to cooperate with the coach. In Dr. Sanders' style of management, he calls the plays," Coleman said. "He's in charge."

Building credibility

Academically, Hernando County's students now perform above the state average on nearly every achievement test. In a few cases, their scores have surpassed those of students in big counties such as Hillsborough and Pinellas. Progress has been steady during Sanders' tenure.

Financially, the district is nowhere near easy street. But things seem to be looking up. The construction debt remains near $70-million. But that's down from nearly $90-million in 1997. The fund balance -- the district's cash cushion for emergencies -- has grown from $1-million to $2-million.

The district has managed to put up new buildings despite the cash limitations. Chocachatti Elementary opened last year. Hernando High opens a new two-story classroom building later his month. Last summer, $17-million worth of new Trane air-conditioning equipment was installed -- all to be paid for through energy cost savings. Then there's the new high school, which breaks ground this fall and opens in 2002 and is being paid for with the sales tax.

State auditors are finding fewer things to complain about. An audit of the year before Sanders arrived found contracts being awarded without bids, unreconciled bank accounts and poor money management. At 38 pages, it was one of the longest audits ever produced by the auditor general.

The latest audit, from the 1998-99 school year, was six pages.

Labor relations, which couldn't have been much worse when Sanders arrived, have improved. Impasse hearings, mid year settlements and protests -- including one during which Westside Elementary teachers canceled the Halloween carnival -- lingered into 1997. Now, they are but a memory.

Jo Ann Hartge, president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association, said she meets regularly with Sanders and he keeps the union abreast of what's going on. He could still be more visible in the schools, but Hartge says she has great respect for Sanders. "We have learned to agree to disagree. I don't have to worry about being put out on bus duty for the rest of my life," Hartge said.

The past four teacher contracts have been settled quickly and peacefully before the start of school. Pay raises, though not enormous, have averaged 3.8 percent or better every year.

"He came in with a pretty good plan," said School Board member John Druzbick.

That plan and its results played into Sanders' efforts to build the school district's credibility in the community.

Nowhere was that more evident than during the 1998 campaign to get the public's support for the half-cent sales tax to pay for the county's fourth high school. Sanders was the most visible salesman for the school, speaking at more than 20 public events. He promised business leaders and retirees -- many from his own generation -- that the school would be a hub for vocational and technical training and that it would churn out kids ready for work.

"It was needed," said Wanda Kelly, executive director of the Hernando County Chamber of Commerce. "Nobody wants to pay taxes. But the way Dr. Sanders and the School Board went about it was palatable."

Since the referendum, Sanders has brought business leaders into the process of planning the courses the new school should offer. One invitee was Jesse Sims, president of Sims Machine & Controls, which builds automated machines other manufacturers use in their factories.

Sims says the school will live up to Sanders' promises. When it is 5 years old, Sims said, high-tech businesses like his own should be able to hire entry-level workers from the pool of graduates.

"I think he's done real well. It's been a pleasure to work with him," Sims said. "He's good at bringing in all the stakeholders, getting them together and getting the pros and cons."

Bumps in the road

For all the praise heaped on him, Sanders has not been immune to controversy.

Most of his problems have had to do with his relationship with the School Board, whose members have accused him of foot dragging, poor communication and ignoring their intentions.

When Sanders was hired, some board members warned him that they did not want to see his wife on the district payroll. Nepotism, they said, had too storied a past in Hernando County. But three years later, Camille Sanders was hired as a high school guidance counselor.

On another occasion, Sanders drew Coleman's wrath -- and that of the St. Petersburg Times editorial board -- when he delayed the release of an audit critical of the district's management, despite his legal obligation to cough it up.

Some have criticized Sanders because, whenever there's an administrator to be hired, one of Sanders' old friends from Michigan frequently winds up in the applicant pool. Twice, the Michigan applicants had legal troubles, creating a quandary for School Board members, who by law can only rubber stamp most personnel moves.

Larry Spencer was hired to run the personnel office in 1996 even though some board members didn't learn until the day of the vote that he had once been arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The charge was thrown out for insufficient evidence.

John McGonigle, a finalist last year for the principal's job at Springstead High, withdrew his candidacy once it became public that the Michigan school district where he worked had obtained a restraining order against him and his wife.

Sanders was criticized when he declined to ask for a criminal investigation of Tony Zefiretto, who resigned as Springstead's athletic director after some cash turned up missing and some equipment invoices turned out to be phony.

After a Times investigation, the Sheriff's Office got involved and eventually charged Zefiretto with two counts of grand theft.

At times, Sanders put issues that are important to the board on the back burner.

A survey of parents on a proposal to start the school year a week early was completed in November. But Sanders didn't bring it to the board until February, making a drastic change in the calendar more difficult. Sanders said he thought the survey wasn't broad enough to be meaningful. Eventually, the start of school was moved up anyway.

For more than a year, board members have been asking for a study that tracks the progress of students who are promoted to a higher grade despite their lack of academic credentials. They also wanted to know what is being done to help them catch up. The study never has been produced, though board members were given the report cards of struggling students.

Those types of things drive School Board chairman Jim Malcolm crazy. Some issues, he said, seem to lie dormant for months. "I don't like it," Malcolm said. "It always disturbs me."

Sticking it out

For his part, Sanders says he tries to respond to the board as best he can. But, as he noted, "All good things take time."

In 1997, Sanders' sluggish responses nearly proved his undoing. Board members gave him low marks on their annual review. And there was serious talk they might not renew his contract. In the end, he met with individual board members privately and worked things out.

Coleman, the former School Board member, said she thinks it took time for Sanders to learn the rules of the game in Florida, where the law demands that government business be conducted in public.

"He had a different way of doing business," Coleman said. In the end, School Board members always want to feel like they are in the loop, she said. Coleman, who is in the middle of an election campaign to return to the School Board, was admittedly reticent to be critical of Sanders. Overall, though, she grades him a B.

Malcolm, the current board chairman, says Sanders' faults do not overshadow the good he has done. "Nobody is going to have a perfect administration. We can't expect him to be perfect," he said. "It has by and large been very positive."

Another board member, Sandra Nicholson, goes even further. "I think he's brought the district almost out of the dark ages," she said. "We have come a long way."

Many, like former Pasco County superintendent Tom Weightman, think the Hernando School Board is being rewarded for its patience. What once was perceived as a county where the School Board and the superintendents never got along is being viewed now in a different light.

"It seems to me that (Sanders) has brought a calming effect to that district that was needed," said Weightman, who is now the CEO of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.

Nationwide, the average stay for appointed superintendents is about three years, Weightman said. If Sanders finishes the coming school year, he will have lasted twice that long.

Weightman said there is considerable research that says such continuity in a school district's management helps aid student achievement. Teachers and staff know what to expect. Programs get to run their full course, instead of having the plug pulled midway through.

Sanders thinks there is some truth to that. So do many of the people who work for him. "I think that's made a big difference here," he said.

Sanders' roots in Hernando are as deep as can be for someone who's been here just five years. He and his wife own a home in GlenLakes, where he is a regular on the golf course.

He's been working in Brooksville and eating at Mykonos II long enough that Mary Smith, the restaurant manager, sometimes thinks he has a rented table.

On Sundays, he attends St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Spring Hill and serves on the church vestry, its lay policymaking board. Like a lot of other locals, his family -- five children and 12 grandchildren -- is spread all over the country.

Ahead, many professional challenges remain.

Sanders says the rules from Tallahassee on education reform seem to change daily. The county's student population still is growing faster than schools can be built. Despite some pay improvements, a nationwide teacher shortage is making it harder to find good people to run a classroom. And finding an affordable and meaningful way to put technology into kids' hands remains elusive.

Yet, even at age 64, Sanders seems to resent questions about when he might retire. His health is good, his working relationships "positive" and he's having fun, he says. So why stop now?

At a minimum, Sanders wants to work through 2002, when the county's new high school opens for business. Given that it is the most expensive and most complicated venture in the district's history, he wants to see that it's done right.

But beyond 2002, Sanders says he "will play it by ear."

"As long as things are moving and I feel I can make a positive impact, then we are going to continue to do it," he said.

John Sanders' curriculum vitae

Age:64

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: Doctorate, 1975, Wayne State University, Detroit. Educational administration with emphasis in research, supervision and labor negotiations.

Education specialist, 1968, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. Education administration and curriculum with emphasis in administration, curriculum, law, school plant and finance.

Master's degree, 1960, Michigan State University. Education administration and curriculum with emphasis in elementary/secondary principal, supervision and public relations.

Bachelor's degree, 1958, Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. Social studies, biology, physical education.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Superintendent, Hernando County School District, 1995-present.

Deputy superintendent, Jackson Public School District, Jackson, Miss., 1993-95.

Educational planner/consultant, Kingscott Associates, architects and engineers, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1989-93.

Superintendent, Delton Kellogg Schools, Delton, Mich., 1983-89.

Principal, Lahser High School, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 1979-83.

Principal, East Detroit High School, East Detroit, Mich., 1967-79.

Principal, Linden High School, Linden, Mich., 1961-67.

Principal/teacher, Waldron High School, Waldron, Mich., 1960-61.

Teacher/coach, Tampico High School, Tampico, Ill., 1958-59.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMITTEES: (partial listing)

American Association of School Administrators

Florida Association of District School Superintendents

CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS:

Rotary Club

Kiwanis Club

Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce

American Heart Association

Oak Hill Hospital Board of Directors

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS:

Member, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Spring Hill

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