Hiring superintendent tops District 5 school board member's goals

District 5 School Board Member Richard Tatem is looking ahead to the 2025-2026 school year with specific goals in mind.

Finding a new district superintendent is right at the top.

The School District of Manatee County is in search of its new leader, and Tatem said he is looking for someone with good administrative, managerial and interpersonal relationship skills. 

“I would rather have somebody who's a little light on the school system experience, kind of like (Interim Superintendent Kevin Chapman),” Tatem said. “If that person had a lot of experience leading organizations and had good people skills, I would take that person over someone who was kind of a more of a technical expert.” 

While the superintendent search is a hot topic, Tatem said one thing he is looking forward to — that might not be on everyone’s radar — is an increase in vocational educational opportunities. 

“I think there's too much emphasis on students going to college and universities," Tatem said. "(A focus should be on) the jobs that are available right now and probably will be available for the foreseeable future ... a lot of them are in the trades.” 

He said there shouldn’t be a stigma attached to what profession a student might want to pursue. He said It shouldn't make a difference whether a student wants to attend an Ivy League school such as Harvard or train to become a plumber.

Tatem said he wants to make sure the district continues to concentrate on improving school bus times and graduation rates. He said the district has been making progress, and he wanted to see that progress continue. 

He said will look into expanding opportunities for alternate schooling and scheduling that he believes will help graduation rates.

Tatem said the longer he is on the school board, the more apparent the importance of parent involvement in students’ education has become.

“They have to engage to some degree,” Tatem said of the parents' involvement in the learning process. “It comes down to a structure in the (student's) life. Your brain wants a schedule. Your brain needs a schedule. Otherwise it's in this constant state of anxiety.”

Tatem said things such as making sure a student sticks to a certain bedtime routine could do wonders for the success of that student. 

He is also looking forward to the increased security measures that will come with implementing the Evolv machines in middle schools as well as seeing the extra training completed that is essential to implementing the system. 

Student safety and security has been an issue in the district as of late as alleged reports of inappropriate behavior by teachers have led to a resignation and an arrest. Former fifth grade teacher Jarrett Williams, who taught at B. D. Gullett Elementary, was accused of an alleged grooming letter to a student which led to Williams' resignation. At Carlos E. Haile Middle School, teacher Oliver Fell was arrested by Manatee County deputies and charged with lewd conduct against a student by an authority figure and transmission of harmful material to a minor. Fell was fired by the district.

Tatem said district teachers will be receiving extra training on the code of ethics that is demanded from those in the profession.

Photo by Liz Ramos

“I understand the public's frustration, like why aren't you catching these people?” Tatem said. “I don't walk around looking for child predators all day — but what we can do about that is increase our training and increase our awareness.” 

Whatever the public's concerns are with the district, Tatem said he hopes those concerns are brought to him, eventually, with an in-person discussion. He prefers to talk face-to-face with people. 

“I like having conversations with people instead of emails,” Tatem said. “I like to hear, ‘I'm having a problem with my school,’

"OK, let's have a conversation about it. Give me the short overview [via email] but then let's chat.”

“Not woke and not broke” is a phrase that Tatem uses often.

“Not broke means that we are being good stewards of the taxpayers money, and that we are living within our means,” Tatem said. 

Tatem also said wants to look at people based on merit and content of character no matter their gender, race or ethnicity. 

“It's ensuring that we as representatives of the state of Florida, a government organization, a school board, are truly not discriminating,” Tatem said. “We are looking at people based on merit and content of character, and there are no policies, procedures or preferential treatment given to people based on immutable characteristics.”

He has a five-step process for getting his job done.

For the first two steps, he asks himself if the matter in front of him is constitutional and legal. The third question has to do with morals and ethics. 

“Something could be legal but it might be, in my mind, immoral or unethical,” Tatem said. “So even if something might be legal, if I thought it was immoral and unethical, I wouldn't vote for it." 

The fourth question he asks determines whether a decision is “dumb, stupid or dangerous.” 

Tatem gave an example by talking about the number of guardians — the security guards who provide campus surveillance and monitor any potential threats — that can be used in each school. He said the law says schools only need to have one guardian. 

“We have two or three based on the student population, but it would be constitutional to only have one,” Tatem said. “I wouldn't say it's immoral or unethical to have only one, but I think it would be dumb or dangerous to only have one guardian [in bigger schools].” 

The final question he asks himself is whether the matter he is considering is fiscally responsible, or what sort of impact it might have on the budget.

“If something meets all five of those criteria, then I'll probably vote for it,” Tatem said. “But if there's one of those that doesn't fit, I would probably vote against it.”

Tatem was elected in August 2022 and took his seat in November 2022. His term ends in November 2026 and he has not decided whether or not he plans to run for reelection.