By Tom St. Myer
The Escambia County School Board resisted putting superintendent back in the hands of the voters.
School board members voted 3-2 against a resolution to put superintendent on the election ballot during their meeting Tuesday in front of a standing-room only crowd at the Hall Center.
Three of the school board members balked at ousting Superintendent Tim Smith in September after then board chair Kevin Adams added discussing his termination to the meeting agenda. Those same three board members, Patty Hightower, Bill Slayton and David Williams, struck down the resolution brought forward by Adams.
“The people in my district are sending me emails or calling me and they’re in support of an appointed superintendent,” Hightower said. “I’m going to continue to support the appointed superintendent. What we have to do as a board is learn how to give direction to the person we have hired, and we have to know how to evaluate that person effectively, so we know the job is being done and our students are benefiting from that leadership model.”
The prospect of putting the superintendent back in the hands of the voters received overwhelming support during the public forum. Fourteen attendees spoke on the resolution during the public forum and 11 speakers encouraged the school board to vote in favor of the resolution.
“In my 20 years serving, I never failed to vote yes for a referendum,” former county commissioner Wilson Robertson said to the school board. “I was not going to deny the public a chance to vote. I suggest you remember that and think about the public, not just three school board members, and let us have a voice in the superintendent.”
He added, “It barely passed (in 2018), but we gave up our right to vote for school superintendent. I think that was a big mistake, and I think the current board of county commissioners will do just like I used to do. They will vote to approve putting it on a referendum.”
Florida is one of only two states that allow for elected superintendents. About 98% of superintendents nationwide are appointed.
The school board considered the resolution one month after State Rep. Michelle Salzman sent a letter on her official letterhead that called for Smith to resign as superintendent. Salzman stated, “Every day that we prolong this transition to new leadership there is a child who is bullied, a child who drops out, a child who attempts suicide, a child who loses hope.”
Smith refused to resign in the aftermath of her letter. The school board appointed him to the position in 2020. He ushered in a new era as an outsider from Orlando appointed by the school board after voters previously determined who held the position.
“My job is all about our kids learning, growing and moving forward—period,” Smith said during the meeting. “That’s what I’m here to do.”
His tenure has been mired by controversy, a global pandemic and a shortage of employees as the school district has yet to make prominent gains in the classroom. The school district tied for 48th out of 67 in total points earned on the Florida School Accountability Reports in 2021-22. That ranking nearly mirrors its standing under previous Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. Escambia ranked 53rd in 2017-18 and 52nd in 2018-19 before COVID-19 caused chaos in the education system.
Eleven Escambia schools graded out as a D or F in 2021-22. Warrington Middle earned one of the Ds and that proved costly as the Florida State Board of Education approved a plan for Warrington to become a charter school in 2023-24.
Some prominent members of the community including Mayor D.C. Reeves, entrepreneur Quint Studer, hotelier Julian MacQueen and attorney Peter Mougey voiced support for Smith and/or the appointed superintendent model.
Reeves spoke last during the public forum and passionately defended Smith and the appointed system. The mayor pointed out that each of the five school board members evaluated him favorably in 2022.
“Our citizens voted to give this board the actual authority to put items on the agenda, to make decisions about leadership and to have the ability to hold the day-to-day operations accountable,” Reeves said. “No data suggests that after two years what our county voted for needs to change.”
Well said, Joanne. And I was being earnest about my wish that Ms. Hightower and Mr. Slayton would focus their combined years of leadership solely on guiding and supporting Dr. Smith, shoulder on with somehow carrying our school system through this turbulence, and even continue to see the incremental improvements that are already taking place.
It took a long time for previous elected superintendents to get us into some of the current mess; it hardly needed our legislature to pile on in their war against teachers’ unions and public education itself. It just seems like a win-win for a new person–who, in Kevin Adams’s words, is the perfect person for this juncture of the Trus–to join that Board, while freeing Ms. Hightower from her multiple responsibilities on ECT so she can continue to stand strong on appointed and work every avenue her experience avails her to see our kids through this adult-created chaos. What they helped accomplish this last week is nothing short of a miracle. Sadly, we’re going to need a lot more of them.
Melissa, I agree with your perspective on Appointing David Williams to the Children’s Trust Board. Fresh eyes may help to move the focus of the Board forward toward what the purpose and mission of ECT is meant to be; redirecting the trajectory of so many of our children in Escambia County.
The many in our community who recognize that the appointed superintended deserves more of a chance than the difficult hand Dr. Smith was dealt his first couple of years owe David Williams, Bill Slayton, and Patty Hightower deep respect and gratitude for sticking to their guns last night.
You three,
Thank you!!!!
–Pensacola
With all of that horribleness hopefully in the rearview, I can’t help but wonder if Ms. Hightower shouldn’t give Mr. Williams a crack at the Children’s Trust for a while. While I sincerely get her desire to persist on the Trust board, sometimes a fresh perspective can help, particularly when a thing has been so arduous that *all* the Trust board members have to be feeling some degree of burnout.
In addition, and perhaps more important, I wish Ms. Hightower would devote herself entirely, along with Bill Slayton (both of their seasoned and earnest remarks were so crucial last night), to doing everything possible to support and guide their superintendent through the waves of destructive chaos that Tallahassee will no doubt continue to generate. He’s certainly not going to get much help from Mr. Fetsko or Mr. Adams, that’s for sure. Maybe let Mr. Williams inject some fresh perspective onto the Trust, while Ms. Hightower and Mr. Slayton continue the leadership momentum they established last night to help pull our schools through this mess with Dr. Smith?
Whatever the case, the vote last night gave me some first fresh hope in a long time over our community’s ability to withstand the State-level assaults on home rule.