Rick Mills officially becomes Manatee superintendent

Rick Mills was sworn in as Manatee County School District superintendent, in a ceremony this morning.

Judge Tom Gallen performed the ceremony in the Manatee Support Center as board members Karen Carpenter, Julie Aranibar and Barbara Harvey looked on.

Mills, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and former chief executive officer of Minneapolis schools, is in his 12th year of public education.

With a 4-1 vote Feb. 20, the Manatee County School Board assigned Mills the task of restoring order to a district reeling from a 2011-12 $3.4 million deficit.

He'll be paid $183,500 per year to do so.

See a previous East County Observer feature story on Mills here.