School Board of Manatee County to determine superintendent's future

Cynthia Saunders, the superintendent of the School District of Manatee County, has been spending her days focused on how to ensure the safety of the district’s almost 50,000 students while striving to provide an excellent education.

In the week before winter break, which starts Dec. 18, Saunders is focused on how to have schools prepared for more students to be on campus next semester and how to close the achievement gap for students who have fallen behind as a result of the pandemic.

What she might not have expected is that she must wait until Dec. 17 to find out whether the School Board of Manatee County will extend her contract, which expires June 30, 2021.

As part of her contract, the school board has until Dec. 31 to decide whether to extend the contract. The board decided to have a special meeting at 5 p.m. Dec. 17 to give the public time to provide comments on the superintendent’s performance.

Saunders officially became superintendent of the district Feb. 12, 2019, after serving as interim superintendent since June 27, 2018.

Some East County parents are pleased with the work Saunders has done in the past two years, especially in regards to the pandemic.

“I’m happy about how flexible and accommodating they’ve been for the different ranges of thought on where [parents] want their children educated at the current time,” said Kaia Heath, a mother of a first grader at Tara Elementary School. “I’ve been impressed with the transparency as far as alerting us to when there’s a COVID-19 case, how many people have been affected promptly, giving us the facts and [keeping us informed].”

Patricia Juliano, a mother of two students at Braden River Middle School, said the superintendent has done a good job given the educational challenges the district has faced this year.

“From guiding Manatee County to full e-learning back in April to continuing to support our students and staff today, she has proven her commitment to Manatee County by establishing new partnerships with health care centers, STEM and art programs,” Juliano said.

Although COVID-19 has challenged everyone this year, Juliano said Saunders has been “truly committed” to keeping students safe.

When the pandemic began, parents were anxious in the transition to e-learning and even more so during the summer when the district was contemplating what to do at the beginning of the school year.

Bethany Lynch, a mother of a Lakewood Ranch High School student and a student at Braden River Middle School, said Saunders did well in communicating the plan for the year to parents and giving parents the option to choose between full-time e-learning, full-time on campus and a hybrid schedule.

“She has done a great job in the midst of all the chaos,” Lynch said. “I think it was important to get the kids back to school. She did a great job offering different modalities, so people had an option that worked best for them.”

Saunders, who has more than 30 years of experience in public education, said she’s in a place where she can retire if the board chooses not to extend her contract but that she feels “compelled that there is still work to be done here.”

“Due to the circumstances of the timing of the situation with the pandemic, I do think it would be beneficial to remain at least for the next two years, so we can get out of this thing stabilized, get the millage put in place,” she said. “[Then] I will feel comfortable with saying: ‘My work has been completed. I have done my best job I can for Manatee County.’ And it will be time for another person to step in and take the reins.”

If the board chooses not to extend the superintendent’s contract and pursue a national search for a superintendent, Saunders said she would not apply for the position.

“I’m a person of faith, and I believe the outcome will be as it’s intended to be,” Saunders said.