South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Broward critic can’t get job OK’d
District says no on secretary post despite her 2 advanced degrees
It takes more than an MBA and doctorate to get hired as a secretary for the Broward school district.
School Board member Lori Alhadeff wants to hire former accountant and college instructor Nathalie Lynch-Walsh as her personal secretary, but administrators won’t allow it.
Could it be because LynchWalsh is an outspoken critic of Superintendent Robert Runcie and some school board members? The district says no; she simply doesn’t meet the qualifications, which include secretarial experience.
“Dr. Lynch-Walsh may be a talented person, but talent is a different thing than experience related to a specific job,” Runcie wrote in a note to Alhadeff on Nov. 19.
Alhadeff, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting, joined the School Board Nov. 20.
“Dr. Lynch-Walsh may be a talented person, but talent is a different thing than experience related to a specific job.” Robert Runcie, Broward school district superintendent
Each of the nine school board members gets to hire an executive secretary, who handles phone calls, emails, appointments
Each of the nine school board members gets to hire an executive secretary, who handles phone calls, emails, appointments and other administrative duties. But state law says candidates can be hired only if the superintendent recommends them and the School Board approves, actions that are normally formalities.
The job description requires six years of “related secretarial experience.” It allows a candidate to have as few as two years of experience if they also have two years of “education in specialized secretarial duties or related subjects at a college-level.”
Lynch-Walsh, 49, has a doctorate from Lynn University, an MBA from Florida Atlantic University and a bachelor’s degree in ac-
counting from Fort Lewis College in Colorado, according to her resume.
She also took a district typing test, which she passed at 45 words per minute.
“I have a Ph.D. in global leadership, an MBA, an accounting degree, management, teaching and writing experience, and seven years serving on district advisory committees,” Lynch-Walsh said. “I meet the minimum qualifications to be superintendent, but not the minimum requirements to be a secretary.”
The district’s job description for superintendent requires a master’s degree and at least 10 years of business or education experience with progressively increasing responsibilities.
“There has been much conversation in recent weeks about district staff, at all levels, adhering to district policies, guidelines and practices,” Runcie told Alhadeff in an email Dec. 18. “We must be consistent.”
However, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reviewed resumes of nine other School Board secretaries and found that at least two hired in the past decade also lacked the minimum qualifications. One had no prior secretarial experience at all, while the other had two years of experience with a liberal arts degree.
Alhadeff said she’s working with district staff to try to get the job description changed. That would require School Board approval.
“I know there are strict rules, policies and procedures that are required when hiring staff. I am still working without a full-time executive secretary. I am patiently working with district staff to ultimately hire a topnotch qualified candidate,” Alhadeff said. “The person I found is overqualified but was told she does not meet the job qualifications.”
Lynch-Walsh ran for School Board in 2016 against incumbent Rosalind Osgood, a strong Runcie supporter, for a seat in the Plantation and Fort Lauderdale area.
As a member of the district’s
Facilities Task Force and Audit Committee, Lynch-Walsh has been a vocal critic of a number of district contracts as well as the slow progress and skyrocketing costs of the $800 million bond to renovate decaying schools.
Alhadeff said she didn’t know if Lynch-Walsh’s outspokenness was the real reason the district isn’t allowing her to be hired.
“I sincerely hope not. This would be such a loss for the district,” she said. “The district needs the most qualified people and it would be a shame if we were not hiring people because of politics.”
School district officials declined to answer questions posed by the Sun Sentinel about the job descriptions or qualifications of board secretaries hired earlier. The district instead provided a memo by General Counsel Barbara Myrick defending Runcie’s action.
“Dr. Lynch-Walsh clearly has advanced degrees, but there is no indication that any of her education related to the duties of an executive secretary,” Myrick wrote. “Although Dr. Lynch-Walsh listed numerous positions on her resume that she has held, none include a position in which she performed secretarial duties.”
Lynch-Walsh said she couldn’t even find a college that offered coursework in “secretarial duties,” as defined by the job description, which was last updated in 2007.
She said the closest she could find was office management.
The dispute over LynchWalsh comes as the district also defends its decision to give big raises to two district administrators to temporarily fill jobs for which they don’t meet the minimum requirements
listed on the job description.
Chief Fire Official MaryAnn May, who makes $113,000 a year, will be paid an extra $2,700 a month to temporarily fill in as chief facilities officer, despite not having the required 10 years of construction experience listed on the job description. Computer Operations Director Matthew Bradford, who makes $119,000, will receive an extra $2,200 a month filling in as chief information officer, despite not having the required master’s degree.
Runcie used a practice known as a “task assignment,” which allows the superintendent to appoint a district employee to temporarily serve in another role with extra pay, and they don’t have to meet any specific job requirements. The jobs will last through the end of the school year, and the employees will be doing their old jobs as well. The move actually saves the district money, Runcie said.
Although several School Board members, including Alhadeff, voiced concerns about appointing May and Bradford, they were told Tuesday they have no choice. Myrick said the School Board can vote down candidates recommended by the superintendent only for reasons such as immorality or “professional disqualification,” which might mean they’re incompetent or have a criminal record or history of misconduct.
“I don’t want anyone to think that because someone might not meet the job description, that would be a reason for professional disqualification,” Myrick told the board.