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Collier School Board candidate Cash was fired from district in 2012; job performance, behavior cited
Collier County School Board candidate Mary Ellen Cash was fired from the Collier school district in 2012 for “performance deficiencies” that included taking unapproved time off, disobeying her supervisor and using inappropriate language toward students, according to numerous letters of reprimand, teacher assessments and meeting summaries obtained from district investigative files.
Cash worked for the district for 17 years as a guidance counselor, English language learner and Spanish teacher, and migrant outreach program developer.
She is running against Darlene Alvarez and board incumbent Roy Terry in District 5.
When reached for comment, Cash said she was not fired and had left the district in 2013. She said she had never received any letters of reprimand and asked whether the documents obtained by the Daily News had her signature on them.
One letter of reprimand and one teacher’s assessment noted Cash had refused to sign them. All other documents of interest, including two letters of reprimand and multiple meeting summaries regarding her behavioral and performance issues, were signed by Cash.
“To my recollection, I never had anything other than outstanding (performance reviews),” she said. “I have never ever had a letter of reprimand.”
In the letters of reprimand and performance assessments in Cash's file, multiple supervisors detailed recurrent instances of Cash failing to complete tasks on time despite repeated follow-ups and stated she changed her work schedule without approval.
Staff also commented that Cash had difficulties using technology, including failing to respond to emails and denying she ever received reminders for scheduled meetings she missed.
“Despite the many times you and I have met and discussed these situations your behavior has continued to be unacceptable,” wrote Maria Longa, program director for federal and state grants and Cash’s supervisor, in a September 2009 letter of reprimand.
In a second letter of reprimand, dated November 2009, Longa said Cash failed to complete assignments despite several extensions. Longa also cited multiple examples of “poor professional judgement,” including instances when Cash allegedly failed to follow the chain of command, sent 40 emails to Longa in one week and provided conflicting statements as to why she could not complete certain tasks.
“Inordinate amount of Supervisors’ time has been taken up providing guidance over and over to Ms. Cash,” Longa wrote. “Insubordination and failure to follow reasonable requests.”
The letter, signed by Cash, recommended she be suspended for one day without pay.
In a June 2010 teacher assessment, Longa again repeated such concerns, saying Cash had “frequent confusion” as to what her job duties entailed, resulting in “many hours” spent with Cash breaking down her responsibilities into manageable tasks.
“Despite these efforts there continued to be confusion and many tasks did not get accomplished,” Longa wrote. “On several occasions inappropriate communications occurred.”
Longa’s concerns were echoed by the migrant coordinator, who was not named in the document:
“She can be impulsive and does not always take a practical approach in planning and prioritizing,” the coordinator wrote. “She strives to advocate on behalf of students and parents to help students succeed, but her approach in working with other professionals and administrator can be interpreted as pushy.”
Calusa Park Elementary Principal Terrie Mitev attempted to address Cash’s performance and the frustration it had caused among school staff at a January 2011 meeting. According to a conference summary, Cash denied receiving notifications about her expected attendance at meetings, which Mitev said was “invalid” and provided documentation for those notifications.
“As we tried to discuss our concerns, your defensiveness interfered with maintaining a productive meeting,” Mitev wrote.
In another meeting weeks later, Vineyards Elementary Principal Mary Smith expressed similar concerns regarding Cash’s performance, including her decision to leave campus for two hours without approval and her failure to complete assignments.
Cash said the documents might have been entered into her file for political reasons.
“This is dirty politics because I’m winning. They’re coming after me now,” she said. “It’s very interesting that none of this has come out until now, when I’m way ahead in the polling.”
When asked which poll she was referring to, Cash said members from her campaign had been making phone calls and found a “general feeling” that the incumbent, Terry, “needs to go.” Asked again to clarify, Cash said her campaign had not found she was ahead in the polls.
More:Second Collier School Board candidate vying for Roy Terry's seat
Also:Collier School Board candidate Darlene Alvarez starts bid for Roy Terry's seat
Cash said she was being targeted for publicly speaking out against the school district, particularly against former Superintendent Dennis Thompson during her 2010 run for a School Board seat; she lost in that election to Terry.
“Why in the world would I be getting all those reprimands if I’m the only person who got undocumented students to go to Ivy League colleges?” Cash said. “What was the motivation? Where’s the proof?”
Cash noted she had received a letter of recommendation from the school district’s director of human resources when she retired.
“I don’t understand why they would give me a letter of recommendation if I was terminated,” she said.
But a letter dated Jan. 23, 2012, from Collier Superintendent Kamela Patton informed Cash of her termination and court documents show Cash filed a suit weeks later against the Collier School Board to challenge the decision.
A settlement was reached in November 2012. As part of the agreement, the district was required to write Cash a letter of recommendation “reflecting her years of service and the multiple duties and responsibilities undertaken while serving as a District employee.”
The settlement also required the district to pay Cash $42,445 to cover her salary from Feb. 9 to Oct. 20, 2012, and prohibited Cash from ever again seeking employment with the district.
The Daily News asked Cash how she could be unaware of her termination and the reason for the letter of recommendation considering the existence of the lawsuit and settlement.
“I think I need to talk to the superintendent about this," Cash said. "I don’t know how you got all these documents.”
Cash declined to answer more questions.
“I think I’m going to cease talking to you right now,” she said. "I think this is very unusual. I need to see what they’ve given you and why."
In 2017:Roy Terry confirms he will seek 2018 re-election to Collier School Board
More:Former teacher and principal Jory Westberry seeks Collier School Board seat
More:Collier teacher Victor Dotres exits School Board race, endorses Jennifer Mitchell
More:Erika Donalds won't seek re-election to Collier County School Board
Concerns over Cash’s behavior while employed at the school district date to 2000, when she was cited for going through the emails of another teacher and using inappropriate language while speaking to students, according to a letter of reprimand from former Immokalee Middle School Principal Manny Touron.
Cash had been urging an unruly class to appreciate the opportunity the students had to go to school when she referred to a town in the Dominican Republic where “bastard children” who are not recognized by their fathers are “doomed to a life of poverty and ignorance,” according to a summary of the speech, written by Cash.
“I’m going to take a chance and even if it costs me my job I am going to tell you in language you will understand if you are a D and F student, you are choosing to be a loser,” Cash told the class, according to her summary.
Cash attached the summary of her speech to a rebuttal letter she sent to Touron. The letter also addressed the allegations about the emails.
Cash was supervising another teacher’s class when she noticed the subject “doors” on the absent teacher’s monitor, Cash wrote.
“Since the Braves team has been conducting ‘lock outs’ I checked the message, assuming that it would tell me what periods were being locked out,” Cash wrote. “I did not feel that checking the e-mail would be an issue since we have been instructed in staff meetings that the Privacy Act does not govern e-mail and there is no expectation of privacy.”
School Board seats are nonpartisan and will be voted on countywide in the Aug. 28 primary. Winners must receive at least 50 percent of the vote; otherwise, the top two finishers will advance to the Nov. 6 general election.
More:Collier School Board candidates discuss bullying, reading scores, term limits at forum
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