One of Sarasota County’s and Manatee County’s most high-profile educators has broken his silence on why he stepped down from the charter school he founded. Neil Phillips, one of the four co-founders of the Manatee charter school Visible Men Academy, had resigned with little public explanation in February. His unexplained departure was particularly mysterious because he gave no notice to the vast network of supporters who funded nearly $1 million of the school’s annual budget. Following a story on his departure that ran in Monday’s Herald-Tribune, Phillips released a lengthy statement early Tuesday morning, saying that a broken relationship with the school’s other co-founders had led to his departure.