Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Board hits wrong note with Ritz-Carlton
On first blush, it just doesn’t look good.
Members of the Broward County School Board are planning a team-building retreat at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, an opulent hotel chain that gave rise to the song, “Puttin on the Ritz.”
Have you seen the well to do Up and down Park Avenue ... Perfect fits Puttin’ on the Ritz
And to let Broward taxpayers know they are gathering in Naples later this month, the school district published the required legal notice in the Miami Herald. A spokeswoman says the Herald offered a lower rate than the hometown Sun Sentinel. But could the district also have wanted a lot fewer Broward residents to see it?
Dressed up like a million dollar trooper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super duper
For taxpayers who just received higher school tax bills because of rising property values, plus the $800 million bond referendum passed last year, the board’s optics don’t seem so super duper.
OK, OK. The board got a good rate. Because they’re a government body, the Ritz-Carlton will only charge each of the nine members $116 per night, plus $12 parking, with a complimentary training room. By contrast, the Naples Beach Hotel wanted $179 per night and the Inn on Fifth wanted $159, both with add-ons.
But for taxpayers who might want to attend the public meeting and observe decision-makers talk to one another about how to better talk to one another, the Ritz’s rate is $299 a night, with add-ons.
Board Chairwoman Donna Corn says observers could drive back and forth to the two-day retreat or stay at a cheaper hotel, but what an inconvenience. Given the great hotels in Broward, couldn’t the school board have found a tony-but-inexpensive
alternative close to home?
Come, let’s mix where Rockefellers Walk with sticks or “umbrellas” In their mitts Puttin’ on the Ritz
Corn says it’s better to meet out of town because members are less likely to be distracted or leave early. Plus, it’s been tough to get board members to set aside the time beyond their twice-a-month board meetings, plus workshops and summer break. She’s been trying since March.
The agenda has yet to be pulled together, but Corn says communication — with staff, with the superintendent, with each other — is the main topic because mixed messages are too often sent. Perhaps that’s why some board members complained about the lack of clear and consistent answers when Superintendent Robert Runcie received his evaluation last week.
Still, given that board members may not legally talk business with one another except at board meetings, what does “better communications” between them look like?
It seems that when some members get passionate, they make their point, then explain their point, then explain what they meant by their point, then repeat their point so repeatedly that, well, you get the point. And sometimes, Corn says she gets accused of using her gavel to cut off communication.
“There has to be a cue when other board members can say something — without insulting or hurting the feelings of that person — that we’ve all heard this, either add something new or let us weigh in and make a final decision,” she said.
Ironically, when the board last held a retreat in 2011 in Gainesville, there was a big miscommunication. One training session, themed around a fishing expedition, explored how board members fish for this from staff, and fish for that from the superintendent. Somehow, word leaked that the whole board went on a big fishing trip, with captain and crew.
Perhaps you’ve worked in a business that holds team-building sessions. One famous trust-building exercise has you fall back and hope your team members catch you. Another has you scale a rock wall with your teammates holding the rope — your lifeline. Another has you solve a puzzle, with each team member unknowingly holding a critical clue that to be successful, requires the team to listen hard to everyone.
It’s good stuff, but does it have lasting value?
“If we don’t trust each other, or aren’t comfortable or rely on each other through effective communication, we’re not going to be as effective as we could be,” says Corn. “We have to be a welltrained board to do our jobs at home.”
We appreciate the value of training. But given the sway this board holds over our wallets, our children and our neighborhoods, it would be far better for its members to hold their overnight retreat at a local hotel that can easily accommodate commuting citizens, too. You’ll declare it’s simply topping To be there and hear them swapping Smart tidbits Puttin’ on the Ritz