So this is how it happened - curiouser and curiouser! I'm no lawyer, but it all seems a bit dicey to me.

On one hand, is this what passes for Sunshine in Florida - an ex parte communication between Eric Smith and Dr. Vogel eventually resulting in a reversal of a vote made by a Board member over the phone without a public hearing?

And Seminole was treated differently just because Dr. Vogel asked? It appears to me that Dr. Vogel received preferential treatment. The seven districts that played by the rules and declined to participate by the deadline would have been provided the same lattitude as Seminole, if they had asked? Really? How does that jibe with the federal and state Administrative Procedures Acts?

Read the blog and post a comment on orlandosentinel.com.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_educ...t-it-seems.html

-----

Race to the Top and Seminole County (and one determined superintendent, it seems)

So how did Seminole County join the Race to the Top parade three days after the deadline?

Well Superintendent Bill Vogel asked, and Education Commissioner Eric Smith said yes.

The department agreed because there was still time to include Seminole in n Florida’s grant application, said Tom Butler, department spokesman. The DOE’s goal had always been to get as many of the state’s 67 districts as possible to sign on.

Vogel, despite opposition from the Seminole County School Board, took the initiative. He ”reached out” to Smith to see if a past-deadline memo might still be accepted, Butler said.

A divided county School Board had twice voted not to take part. But Vogel managed to convince Chairman Sandra Robinson to change her mind. They both then signed the needed paperwork and got it up to Tallahassee on Friday.

The DOE had said districts must send in their paperwork by Jan. 12, last Tuesday. That was (as Smith explained a few weeks ago) an internal deadline set so the DOE had time to pull together data on all participating districts before packaging its application and sending it off to Washington, D.C.

But on Friday, with 59 districts in, it was still running budget information and still had time to include Seminole data.

At that point, the seven other districts that had said “no thanks” would have been given the same consideration — if they’d asked, Butler said.

In fact, if Florida wins a grant, Butler said Smith is eager to keep “communication lines open” with all districts, including the seven No’s.