Yesterday, Inweekly reached out to Escambia County School Board members for their thoughts in the wake of the abrupt firing of School Superintendent Tim Smith.
Slayton was stunned the motion was made. Fetsko wasn’t trying to embarrass Smith but the termination was needed to curb the resignations hitting the district. Adams said Smith’s actions before the State Board of Education were the last straw.
Why this matters: Their candid comments give us more insights into the turmoil in our public schools.
BILL SLAYTON
“To me, the motion was totally out of place,” Slayton said. “Nobody was there to defend the superintendent because nobody knew that was coming up. I felt it was totally poorly done, a chicken’s way out.”
“A lot of people called me today and wanted to know why they didn’t know about it and couldn’t come to speak out in support of the superintendent.”
“I have been informed Keith has not said yes,” Slayton said. “It seems the chairman has put forth his name without consulting him. Keith Leonard did not know his name was going to be mentioned. According to a discussion I had with the attorney, we’re hanging on now and don’t know what’s going to happen next. We may have to call a special meeting.”
“Do you think people are going to want to come here?” Slayton said. “We had a gentleman that didn’t even get through his 3-year contract and we didn’t tell him why. We just voted him out.”
“I like the things he’s been doing with discipline,” Slayton said of Smith. “It’s something we all needed. We’ve been a little lax on punishment; we need strong discipline in our schools.”
PAUL FETSKO
“I was really looking at what was going on with the evaluation before that, but adding on to it, for the state board to make the comments they made, was a little bit stunning,” Fetsko said. “It was stunning to hear what Ryan Petty said, but again, I didn’t disagree with what he said.”
“I am not trying to embarrass or undermine or disparage Dr. Smith,” Fetsko said. “I went out of my way to say I understand what his strength is and that’s curriculum and I appreciate that, but it had to do with the idea of leadership.”
“The thing that was most important on that was we have had a number of elementary principals resign, one on the first day of school and three others in the first semester. There’s a likelihood we’ll have a goodly number retire, leave or just walk away, and it’s not just principals. It’s been other staff. The methods being employed were not working. Before the district loses all its seasoned, trained, and competent leadership, we needed to make a change.”
“Keith understands district leadership vs. school leadership,” Fetsko said. “He’s been involved with things. He’ll get up to speed a lot quicker than somebody who has not been here. I’m trying to look at somebody who can kind of keep things calm, his demeanor and manner are described like that by everyone who has met him and makes it a very reasonable thing to do at this point.”
“I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I had to make the statement or go ahead with this at this point because there are a lot of things getting prepared for next school year,” Fetsko said. “I want to avoid having to change a whole lot later when they can get done now. Dr. Smith was just not the right fit for us at this time.”
“I’ve had some hostile calls this morning, but I’ve had 20 more saying we appreciate you doing what needs to be done,” Fetsko said. In my heart, I do not take any joy in doing this. I feel for Dr. Smith and his family and will continue to do so.”
Fetsko said he expects the school board to conduct a search for a new superintendent in June.
KEVIN ADAMS
“Everyone in Escambia County knows where I was,” Adams said. “It’s no secret we had our little turf battles. I like Tim Smith. I just didn’t like the direction we were going.”
“I just want the district to settle down,” Adams said. “We started having people quit at all different levels and that has to stop”
Adams said Smith’s performance in front of the state board was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“We’ve got to get back to the attention of these low-performing schools,” Adams said. “Eleven schools are in the DOE pipeline and we have to do stuff now, not later.”
“I can’t picture another guy coming in from out of town who doesn’t know anything about this county,” Adams said.
“That last time they said an appointed superintendent was going to bring in less politics,” Adams said. “That was a lie.”
“If it gets political again, I might be forced in that direction,” Adams said of encouraging the superintendent position to be put back on the ballot.
“I’m ready to move forward,” Adams said. “We need to get the state board off our back.”
