JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Contract negotiations for incoming superintendent Dr. Chris Bernier are continuing after Bernier asked for the district’s maximum proposed salary of $350,000 and the district countered with an offer of $280,000 per year.
The school board chair said he hoped the two sides could come to an agreement by Friday, but no agreement had been reached by the time this story was published Friday evening.
However, some people are questioning if Dr. Bernier is the right person for the job.
Board members noted how divided the community was between the two finalists during the search process.
It appears the board is aware of critics’ concerns about Dr. Bernier, including details of a whistleblower complaint that recently became public, but they still believe he is the right person for the job.
As the Duval County School Board met to vote on the next superintendent last month they urged unity before even discussing the finalists.
“What’s bubbled up in my soul is a heavy heart over the amount of disunity in our community,” said board member Cindy Pearson.
The board voted unanimously to approve Dr. Bernier as superintendent, with board members citing his experience, especially with public education in Florida, as making him the right person for the job right now.
But it seems Dr. Bernier is facing even more scrutiny after being tapped for the job with people taking to social media to criticize his proposal for a $350,000 base salary plus other costly perks, like a $1,000 monthly car stipend and a $50,000 annual budget for a mentor.
DCPS didn’t offer those benefits in its counteroffer, although Bernier’s previous contract as superintendent of the Lee County School District in Southwest Florida shows he received a $500 monthly car stipend as well as that five-figure budget for a mentor with the total package in Lee County, including $20,000 in relocation fees, amounting to more than $476,000.
Critics have also pointed out allegations of racial discrimination in Lee County schools.
Bernier was named in two federal lawsuits filed this year alleging the Lee County school district discriminated against the only two non-white members of a school baseball team after an assistant coach sent a text to the team and other coaches that contained a racist slur.
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One of the suits said Bernier neglected to “enforce policies effectively” and “failed to act decisively against systemic racial issues, despite being aware of them, perpetuate[ing] a hostile environment which targeted students of color.”
Earlier this week, News4JAX news partner Jacksonville Today revealed Bernier was the target of a whistleblower complaint filed in April by a Lee County district employee who alleged bullying and racial profiling. Days later, Bernier applied to the superintendent job in Duval County and then resigned from his position in Lee County.
“The position of Superintendent in Lee County changed when the community voted to move to an elected superintendent. I respected that decision and chose not to seek office. This spring, I actively participated in processes to secure a position as an appointed superintendent. In Lee County, we improved student outcomes, and I left on good terms. I look forward to similar success as the Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools,” Bernier previously said.
School Board Chair Darryl Willie on Thursday told News4JAX the board was aware of the allegations before extending an offer to him.
“He was very upfront, in fact, told us to reach out to some of the folks that were even listed in some of those complaints and found that a lot of it is I mean, the folks that I’ve reached out to had great things to say about Dr. Bernier and said those things weren’t true in there. So we did our due diligence, we went down every path, not only background checks, officially, but also we talked to past board members and past staff, not just from Lee, but also Orange [County] and other places to make sure, sure we saw sort of this thread and what his character was. So that’s, we definitely weren’t surprised by it,” Willie said.