Comments on: After Firing Smith, School Board Sets Special Meeting To Discuss Move To An Interim Superintendent

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 23 May 2023 21:29:16 +0000

@Jeremy. You are poorly informed if you think schools here are filled with liberal teachers. Most of them are conservative Republicans. But they are sick of increased workloads, low pay, and parents trying to tell them how to do their jobs. Sadly, people are inventing issues instead of dealing with real ones. As for private schools, parents need to be aware how often those students return to public schools and are behind. Private schools pay worse than public schools, so who wants to work for less – often people who couldn’t pass muster.

By: Bonnie Exner

Bonnie Exner — Tue, 23 May 2023 18:49:54 +0000

@Jeremy…With all the unfunded mandates that come down from the Florida legislators, a classroom teacher has barely had time to teach their state curriculum, let alone insert any of their ” biases”…I know from experience teaching 8th grade Civics that I barely covered the U.S Constitution, Bill of Rights, Citzen Rights and Responsibilities,Development of Political artists, Voting and Elections, Three branches of Natioanal Government State Government, Local Government, Community Issues,Civil and Criminal Law,The American Economic System..I never got to Comparative Governments,International Relations and, Citizens of the World!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 23 May 2023 10:45:06 +0000

Don’t need a “nice” person who slaps everybody on the back . Don’t need a person that it takes three years to realize they are a failure . Need a person that is going to fire people and put some school board members in a shed .

By: Beach Boy

Beach Boy — Tue, 23 May 2023 03:10:11 +0000

@ Jeremy…If you research it….this is why the School Board raised our property taxes. The property tax increase is earmarked to pay for more teachers and give the current teachers a raise. Apparently, a lot of teachers are bailing out because they have been instructed to teach subjects they don’t agree with….AND…because parents are pulling their students from Public Schools and putting them in Private Schools.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 23 May 2023 01:42:19 +0000

Y’all know you can take your tax money and go to a private school now right? No more indoctrination from the crazy, immoral, liberal teachers or dealing with incompetent Escambia County Schools. https://www.stepupforstudents.org/legislative-updates/

By: Doris Smith

Doris Smith — Tue, 23 May 2023 00:52:16 +0000

Let’s go back to voted on the person, this was not my pick, we lost a good candidate that should have been hired.

By: concern

concern — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:56:40 +0000

What happened to the chain of command? If the superintendent is removed from office or could no longer serve the position, shouldn’t the deputy superintendent ascend to the role? That’s the whole purpose of chain of command. Why are they not doing this? There are protocols to follow here but our school board either doesn’t know the protocols or is knowingly ignoring them. Either one is bad and we (as a district) would have probably been better off to remove the entire school board and leave Dr. Smith alone.

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 22 May 2023 20:01:05 +0000

Yes! Good Ole boy system. The man came in with a corrupted school system that takes years to fix, not 2 years.

By: Vivi

Vivi — Mon, 22 May 2023 16:42:56 +0000

The citizens of Escambia county should never have given up their right to elect the school superintendent. I hope that this policy will be overturned, and the sooner the better!

By: CJ Lewis

CJ Lewis — Mon, 22 May 2023 13:40:45 +0000

Obviously, Chairman Fetsko’s action item to fire Superintendent Smith and appoint Assistant Superintendent Leonard as Acting Superintendent (that’s the actual title), to set him up to become the next Superintendent, was “out of order” and so “null and void.” The board’s operations are governed by a Policy Manual posted online and that governs the conduct of its meetings too. In November, the board voted again to appoint General Counsel Ellen Odom to be its parliamentarian and to conduct its meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised. I presume that all board members have a copy. You can buy one for $20. Rule 41:63 requires that there be a vote to amend an agenda after it has been adopted as it had been at the start of the meeting. No motion to amend the agenda was made and so no vote taken. Rule 39.5 provides that “improper motions” like taking up an action item that is not on the agenda and voting on it is out of order and null and void. This is high school student government stuff so a mystery why no one at the school district knows. Further, Section 1-24.4 gives the Policy Manual gives the Superintendent up to two weeks to respond in writing to the “final evaluation” that was approved 5-0 with no discussion. The final evaluation is the one prepared by Ms. Odom. The board was not voting to approve the individual evaluations to include Chairman Fetsko’s two other pages that are a public record but kept secret.