PBC superintendent gets an annual grade. Slow hiring, bus driver shortage hurt him in 2022
It's not just students and schools who get grades in the Palm Beach County School District.
Superintendent Mike Burke does, too.
School board members completed their annual evaluations of Burke on Wednesday, and the 24-year veteran of the district received a total average score of 4.5 out of 5.
Burke, who is paid a base salary of $300,000 per year, will get a raise of about $10,500 that's in line with the 3.5% raise 12-month administrative district employees received this year.
Problems with the number of open teaching positions, a slow hiring process and a shortage of bus drivers plagued Burke as school board members gave him lower scores for short staffing.
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"Failures in transportation, especially for ESE students, weighs heavily with regard to Mr. Burke's performance," board member Karen Brill wrote in her review.
Burke was evaluated on his achievement in five major areas:
Ensuring effective and relevant instruction in schools.
Hosting a positive and supportive climate.
Encouraging talent development.
Creating a high performance culture.
Board and community relations.
None of the school board members rated Burke as "unsatisfactory" in any of the areas.
Burke's scores hurt by hiring woes
Brill gave Burke the lowest overall marks — rating his performance a 2 out of 5 in the talent development and high-performance culture areas.
"Although Mr. Burke exceeds expectations (in other areas), that success is overshadowed by certain personnel shortages," she wrote in her review. "We need an action plan addressing the teacher shortage, bus driver shortage and paraprofessional shortage."
On Wednesday, Brill said she was critical on the review because of the issues Burke is facing but added that she thought he was doing a "fabulous" job handling them.
Board member Dr. Debra Robinson agreed to an extent with Brill on how Burke has performed in the talent development area.
She wrote that she was waiting for talent development to improve with the district's new human resources chief, Erin Reger. Robinson added at the meeting that students' performance isn't living up to her expectations.
"At the end of the day, the children are not doing well, and that's our mission. That’s what we’re here for," Robinson said. She said she wants Burke to "double down on looking at how we work with all intentionality to have each child be successful in every way."
Burke and the district are facing a trio of hiring shortages that have left teaching positions unfilled, bus routes without a driver and teachers waiting in the wings to be cleared to work.
"The buck stops here. I get that. I'm giving this job my all, but I know there is room for improvement," Burke said. "I am incredibly proud to lead this school district. It's my life's work."
Ahead of the first day of school on Aug. 10, the district still needed to hire 400 teachers, about double the average open positions from years past. To help fill those roles, Burke said he was bolstering the substitute pools by increasing pay.
Also in the mix was a shortage of bus drivers, which left 80 positions open and some routes unassigned before the start of school. To prepare for the start of school, Burke asked qualified drivers who worked in office and maintenance positions to fill in.
Now, more than a month into the school year, a lag in the district's onboarding procedure is causing problems for employees who want to start work.
School district officials said the hiring and onboarding, which usually takes around 15 days, is taking nearly a month now due to backlogs in the human resources department. A large influx of August hires crammed more applicants into the system, Burke said.
"The delays in clearing employees to work for the district needs immediate attention," Brill wrote.
Board: Burke excels at communication, decision-making
Despite those challenges, a vast majority of Burke's reviews were positive.
He scored highly in his communications with board members and the public, and creating a positive and supportive climate. School board members said they enjoyed seeing him at chamber of commerce events, school visits, election-night events and community gatherings.
"So many people in our school system love that they see you at community events," board member Erica Whitfield told Burke. "I think you’re making the right decisions, and I’m very proud to be in this leadership role."
Others praised him for his rise from the ranks as the district's chief financial officer.
"We couldn’t have asked for a better person who was right in our system all along to step up and serve," board member Alexandria Ayala said.
Burke's annual evaluation results were approved unanimously Wednesday by the board.
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Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Mike Burke 2022 review
