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Jewish charity hires Gadd
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Published: October 30, 2009
NEW PORT RICHEY - The board of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services has picked a former assistant superintendent for the Pasco County school system as interim director following the recent resignation and suicide of its former director, Michael Bernstein.
Lisa Brock, a public relations spokeswoman hired by the charity as a crisis manager, said Ray Gadd is a highly regarded professional who worked his way "up the chain" from a school psychologist to an administrative position with the school board.
Gadd recently lost his job with Pasco schools but has a number of high-profile supporters in and out of education circles.
Brock said the charity expects to spend a year recruiting a permanent director to lead the agency.
Gadd was fired in June by Pasco Schools Superintendent Heather Fiorentino after 28 years with the district.
Gadd said Fiorentino told him it didn't have anything to do with his job performance but said she was "just going in a different direction."
In August, Gadd confirmed that he was a candidate to lead Pasco County's Economic Development Council.
Police in Valdosta, Ga., said Bernstein, the former Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services director, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a motel Oct. 21.
Just one week prior to his suicide, Bernstein suddenly resigned from the $33 million-a-year charity that he founded more than three decades ago.
Gulf Coast recently had to repay the state $131,000 in funding for a jobs program managed by the charity because of improper and undocumented job placements.
Charity managers have refused to say why Bernstein resigned, citing a confidentiality agreement they signed with Bernstein. But they suggested that it involved management issues beyond the bookkeeping problems with the jobs program.
Brock said that when troubles with the jobs program came to light, charity managers hired auditors who did not turn up any other significant problems.
"There is nothing out there we can find to suggest impropriety," Brock said.
When he resigned, Bernstein was earning $267,000 a year as the charity's top executive.
News Channel 8 reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603.
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