County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh discussed appointed vs. elected school superintendent on my radio show yesterday. The voters approved moving to appointed in the 2018 general election. The switch happened in November 2020 as Malcolm Thomas completed his third term as superintendent.
“That was a very difficult election in 2018,” said Bergosh. “Malcolm Thomas told me to my face that Escambia County would never approve it. I thought differently. I wrote an op-ed there. A lot of people really worked hard to get that thing over the line.”
He pointed out that he served 10 years as a school board member under the elected system. “I can tell you as our diehard red meat Republican who voted for Trump, this is not a Republican versus Democrat issue.”
Bergosh continued, “It’s an issue of knowing the inner workings of how a school system works and knowing that the proper structure is five elected people, half of whom are up for election every two years. And you give the electors a shot at those guys, and then they pick a specialist who will stay outta politics.
Jim Paul was in politics. Malcolm Thomas was in politics, writing checks, supporting opponents, working against ones he didn’t like. I don’t want the guy running our schools to be involved in politics.”
The county commissioner later related the elected superintendent to the crooked sheriff in the popular 80s television show “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
“I’m a product of the schools. I support the schools, and I think we can do better,” said Bergosh. “And I don’t think we need to go back to a system where we have Boss Hogg, the most popular guy in town run our schools. We don’t need that. That would be a disaster.”
