Former School Building Chief Sentenced to Probation

Well, the Pulp has helped bring another public official to justice. Or maybe I should say "justice."

Remember Ron Morgan, the now-former chief building official at the Broward County School Board? I reported back in January that he was unlicensed to do his job. After that, I found that Morgan not only was unlicensed but had lied about it publicly and had illegally signed off on elementary schools anyway. The School Board quickly removed Morgan from his position, and the State Attorney's Office did an investigation and, based on his signing off on the building permits of those two schools, charged him with a misdemeanor for pretending he had a license when he didn't. The Sun-Sentinel, which missed and/or ignored the story, finally reported yesterday that he pleaded out to a year's probation and 25 hours of community service. (Yes, the Sentinel beat me to the punch in reporting the result of my own reporting; it's a little embarrassing, but more for them than for me). The Department of Business and Professional Regulation also fined him $1,500 and put him on probation. Still, it's hard to call it "justice." The top people at the School Board's construction department (Michael Garretson, Donnie Carter, et al.) should be kicked to the curb over this as well. These people, who willfully overlooked Morgan's little problem, are overseeing billions of our dollars. And don't worry about Morgan: He's still operating as assistant chief building inspector and pulling in a six-figure salary.

This while we also hear from the Sun-Sentinel the "good news" that 123 teachers are losing their jobs because they failed to renew their teaching certificates.

Justice? Naw.