It is hard for those who work, tend households and raise families to muster the energy required to focus on the Collier County Public Schools' problems with meeting fundamental fire codes for fundamental safety. Those folks are dumbfounded by all the spinning and fingerpointing and the overall hard time that top school system officials continue to have with a chore that is so basic the kind of priority that private-sector businesses and homeowners recognize and address daily for the sake of their employees and children. Most citizens do not have layer upon layer of bureaucracy to either handle the chore or blame for it not being carried out. There is no cause for panic in the face of a state mandate for fire-safe schools. Yet, the school system cannot have it both ways, with officials now proclaiming hundreds of fire-alarm, extinguisher and exit defects and safe schools.
Some people do care about accountability and safety.
Lee County's school superintendent, Bruce Harter, has placed his own pay and job on the line for lax response after one of his supportive bosses on the School Board was swept out of office last week. This means vested interests will be investigating themselves. There is merit in the notion of a fresh perspective, from inspectors with the Department of Education in Tallahassee. They stand a chance of getting this job done properly and efficiently.