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Report card on ousted Hernando schools superintendent shows little change from last year

 
Former Hernando County Schools Super-intendent  Lori Romano
Former Hernando County Schools Super-intendent Lori Romano
Published Aug. 15, 2018

BROOKSVILLE — Two months after firing superintendent Lori Romano, the Hernando County School Board on Tuesday reviewed results of a second district-wide survey to evaluate her performance, finding that little changed from last year.

Romano's overall average rating dropped slightly, to a 2.81 out of 5, compared to a 2.87 last year, according to data provided by University of South Florida researcher George MacDonald, who facilitated the survey at no cost to the district.

The change is "not statistically significant," he said. "We've seen no performance improvement."

The rating came from the responses of 938 district employees, ranging from support staff and teachers to administrators and School Board members. Much like last year, responses varied from group to group, MacDonald said. Administrators generally scored Romano higher than teachers and school-based support staff.

Nearly three-fourths of the respondents reported that they have lived in Hernando County for 11 years or more, results showed. More than half worked in the district that long, and about 10 percent worked in the district for fewer than three years.

The survey included 52 items scored on a scale of 1 to 5 and two free-response questions. Overall, it asked whether Romano was effective or in need of improvement on nine categories outlined by the American Association of School Administrators.

She scored best on policy and governance, the only category in which most people scored Romano as effective. She scored worst in two categories — labor relations, and leadership and district culture. In each of those, two out of three people said Romano needed improvement.

MacDonald's report included 40 pages of comments. Some praised Romano for her professionalism and organizational skills, and for keeping up with ever-changing state education policy. Others shared concerns about her communication and leadership style, which were raised by the public and board members ahead of their vote to fire her.

The words "fear," "dictator" and "poor" appeared multiple times, and several respondents pointed to Romano's firing of 47 teachers at Moton Elementary School this year, which played a role in her downfall. Others criticized her for not visiting schools enough or communicating with teachers regularly.

"She only lets out what she wants to be let out to the stakeholders of this district," one commenter said. "Whatever community relations she has is ONLY when it is to her benefit."

Board members did not speak directly about Romano during their discussion Tuesday. However, every official but Gus Guadagnino — a Romano supporter who often spoke out against the survey — agreed on its value.

"Every superintendent needs to have this kind of information," board member Susan Duval said. "How else are you going to get real, honest information from the people you work with?"

She suggested contracting with MacDonald's team for the coming school year. The evaluation process can uncomfortable, she said, but provides a road map for improvement.

Board member Beth Narverud agreed and suggested also surveying parents and the business community next time.

"Romano would have scored highly in the business community," she said, adding that there are "other pieces to this puzzle."

Chairman Mark Johnson suggested the board negotiate a different type of agreement with MacDonald, so the survey is considered research rather than a contracted service.

That way, the district can keep information about respondents confidential.

MacDonald asking the board for permission to publish the survey results as part of academic literature, without specifics about Romano's performance and free-response comments included.

"There's been a lot of work done, and we would like to put this forward to the community," he said. "School boards all across the nation could use this work."

Every board member but Guadagnino agreed.

Contact Megan Reeves at mreeves@tampabay.com. Follow @mareevs.

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