The misguided "Teachers First" Bullet just did not square with Cameron Sharpe's insistence on returning a unanimous recommendation made from the Teacher Advisory Board back for additional consideration The teachers were not first; some one else was.
The initial recommendation was to retain the provider of the school employees' cafeteria benefits plan. Under the plan employee can select from a range of available benefits and have the premiums deducted from their paychecks. No county tax funds are paid to the cafeteria plan. The board, made up of teacher representatives from each school, responded that further information was not needed, and it was satisfied with the recommendation for Paul Gay Insurance.
The Gay proposal provided the lowest cost for all but one of the benefit areas. There were more than fifty endorsements of the plan by individual teachers and every teacher representative reported that teachers at their school favored the recommended plan. Sharpe was the only school board member that voted to disapprove the final recommendation. His declaration that he just wanted what was best for the teachers sounded like a parental view of "Teacher's First." Sharpe claimed to know better than the teachers what was best for them.
Documents obtained by the Lee Dispatch suggest that his interest was "Cameron Sharpe's Friend First" in contrast to the "Teacher's First" claim in the ad. Those documents, other record checks, and interviews do not support Sharpe's explanation for the insistence on sending the matter back to the Teacher's Advisory Committee. In a November 10, 2011 Sanford Herald article:
One firms with interest in the proposal was The Pierce Group. Sharpe acknowledged that he was acquainted with two of the firms owner's, Glen Pierce and Chris Pierce An email form Glenn Pierce, the founder of the firm, labeled "Follow-UP", was sent August 11, 2011. That was just three days after Superintendent Jeff Moss had provided a draft RFQ for Employee Benefits Broker/Consulting Services for review. The context suggests that it was a draft for the Board of Education's review not for Cameron Sharpe's friends. The review Pierce Group which remained in frequent contact with Cameron Sharpe by telephone and personal US Mail correspondence.Sharpe said he wanted to make sure employees were afforded enough detailed information about all of the providers before making a decision [emphasis added]Sharpe said he ...wanted the employees to get the best deal for the money, and he was concerned the employees hadn't had suffiecent time to weigh their options.
On November 21, 2011 , after the Board of Education sent the first recommendation back to the Teachers Advisory Board, Pierce emailed Sharpe:
Thank you very much for your persistence in attempting to bring the best employee benefit program to the Lee County School employees. Please allow me to recap a few things we’ve discussed in our conversations dating back several months.Sharpe has suggested that his real interest was to deny the contract to the local firm chosen by teachers, but there is no evidence to suggest he was assisting other bidders for the cafeteria plan. There is additional information regarding Sharpe's personal preference for the contract makes it clear why Sharpe became a prominent supporter f the Pierce Group.
So much for Teachers First.
See posts 1 and 3:
1. Cameron Sharpe Gets Off Message
2. Womack Control of Schools
Go back to original Lee Dispatch post:
The Most Costly Ad of This Election
