Broward School Board suspends director
Avoids demotion for flasher costume at work
The Broward School Board decided an administrator’s decision to wear a flasher costume at work didn’t warrant a demotion or a pay cut. Instead, the board decided to suspend her for seven days.
The decision regarding Mary Coker, director of procurement and warehouse services, came in a Tuesday meeting packed with her supporters, including many of her employees, who described her as an inspiring leader who turned around a troubled department when she arrived in 2016.
Coker, 46, apologized to the School Board for being at work on Halloween in a controversial costume, which included a simulated naked body with realistic looking body parts.
School Board members said they were alarmed by the costume, but they were also concerned by what they saw as a rushed, shoddy investigation into whether her actions constituted sexual harassment. District staff determined it didn’t.
Staff proposed firing her until they polled School Board members by phone last week and found there wasn’t support for that.
Superintendent Robert Runcie then recommended demoting Coker from her director job, where she’s paid $154,286, and making her a manager, where she’d take a nearly $44,000 pay cut.
Board members said the district didn’t follow its normal policy of progressive discipline, which usually involves reprimanding or suspending an employee after their first infraction, especially if it’s non-criminal.
“The punishment should fit the offense,” Board member Laurie Rich Levinson said.
Board member Heather Brinkworth said she was “highly irritated” that she couldn’t get a straight answer from Coker’s boss,
Maurice Woods, on whether she’d had any prior discipline.
Woods answered the question with “there’s not always formal discipline but coaching and corrective action.”
There was no prior discipline listed in Coker’s personnel file.
Only Board member Donna Korn supported the proposed demotion.
“If this had been a man instead of a woman, we’d be having a very different conversation,” Korn said. “Looking the other way or just having written reprimand doesn’t speak to level of the impact that this decision has on her leadership.”
But other Board members supported the seven-day suspension.
Coker said she appreciated the board’s action.
“I look forward to getting back to work,” she said.