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.”
Rick
It pains me to see the continuous disfunction from the School Board and its administration of the district. The failures of leadership directly result in failures in educating students and poor performance of its schools. The Board’s systemic failures contribute to the disparities in the socioeconomic conditions in Escambia County and contribute to the generational poverty in its citizens.
It’s a little astounding to hear the long-time commisioners Adamas and Fetsko seemingly blame Dr. Smith for the mass exodus of educators and staff. Normally, HR would do an exit interview to gather actual data on what is driving employees to leave, rather than having elected officials casting aspersions on the only educated educator in the room, so to speak, after he has been dismissed. It’s this kind of non-problem solving that keeps the trajectory of our schools on it’s steady, downward slope.
Slayton says, “To me, the motion was totally out of place.” No kidding. There’s nothing in the Policy Manual providing for amendment of an agenda “after” it has been adopted so Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised would control. I just found my copy and looked it up, “Once adopted, the agenda can be changed only by a vote of two thirds of those present or by a vote of a majority of all the delegates registered, or – is as frequently vote by unanimous consent.” The operative word is “only.” Once adopted, the agenda can only be amended by a motion to add a new item, an action requiring four of five votes. I watched the meeting video again. Fetsko did “not” make a motion to amend the agenda. The school board attorney was present. Did she think what was done was legal? Was she in on it with Fetsko? A local law firm should step forward to represent Smith asking the court to rule that Fetsko’s agenda was not properly before the board for action and so null and void.
Thank you, Rick, for doing what you do better than anyone in the biz–capturing the essence of a whirlwind and managing to get it broken down in all its complexity to help the public navigate it. EVERYBODY needs to be paying attention to–and understanding–this issue, and it’s a heck of a lot easier with you putting all the puzzle pieces together.
I’ve been off politics and focusing on some family health issues, but can’t sit on my hands with this, as I once again allowed myself to be snookered into thinking that Paul Fetsko has it in him to be a decent, stand-up human being. That’s the third time I’ve fallen for one of his acts, and am so disgusted with myself that I spoke words of encouragement in advance of that State meeting, feeling that what the State was doing was actually worse than any School Board inadequacies.
Didn’t take long for him to cure me of that sentiment again, and after three times bitten by his games, I’ll never trust a thing he does or says again. Not to mention that he and Kevin Adams have obviously been up to their Sunshine violations again; that’s as clear as day, as Mr. Slayton alluded to during the meeting. Their audacity really knows no bounds; nor does their dim-witted cruelty and shameless mendacity.
Watching Adams’s never ending wallowing on the banned books issues during the meeting last Thursday, I was once again astonished that anyone with such a breathtaking absence of any intellect whatever could be voted onto a school board. But here we are; life in these United States these days. After the librarian went through an excellent and clear representation of the legal grey area–purposely legislated to be that way, so the State can do whatever they choose with it and keep everybody on tinder hooks like the classic bullies they are–Adams really thought he was coming in for a coup de grace with his response: “While you may not like it, it’s the law.” Thus illustrating once again that he doesn’t even have the intelligence and common sense to understand that he doesn’t understand. You gonna remove the Shakespeare from those shelves, Kevin? You’ll find a LOT of naughty bits in there. (What you won’t find is horrible grammar indicating a lack of sufficient education, except from the comedic characters inserted to entertain the groundlings. So perhaps you might want to keep some some of those books on the shelves to provide a better example than adults often do.)
So now the Dunder Twins have gotten their long-time dream of an underqualified superintendent to kick around. And this of course has taken on new urgency for them, as they don’t want to keep having to wave their bigotry around like a banner on the dais, and of course would MUCH prefer a superintendent do their nasty work for them, out of the public eye. Shame on Dr. Smith for not allowing them run rampant with their unconstitutional discrimination? Shame on them for not even having the courage to own their own “principles” (big quotes there) publicly.
So disappointed in David Williams it’s difficult to put into words. WHY. So what if the rumor is true that he was jilted for the deputy superintendent? Can we *please* have some more adults in the room who actually care about these kids, rather than their own ambitions and egos? It was one of the brightest moments in ages for our schools and community when Mr. Williams stood up to Dumb and Dumber on their ham fisted elected machinations; now it’s one of the saddest that he went along with their disgusting lack of ethics and conniving for–what? Particularly after all that has been done to increase inclusivity during Dr. Smith’s time. Which, as I understand it, is also due to Dr. Smith letting Dr. Payne do her job, unlike past superintendents would allow on that note (ahem).
I don’t know Mr. Leonard, but people I respect all say he’s a nice man, and that a lot of people enjoy working with him. Certainly there aren’t the horror stories that would circulate about Malcolm Thomas’s worst abuses. But it comes down to this: he’s not qualified. Period, end of story–he’s not qualified to be either the interim superintendent, or the permanent role that Adams and Fetsko have been trying to shoehorn him into since the first vote on appointment. So while I wish Mr. Leonard the best on his drop salary, I can’t wish it when it comes at the expense of qualified leadership to continue to try to pull our troubled schools out of their combined morass of failure.
Dr. Smith, many of us wish we would have seen more of your straight-up, forceful talk 10 months ago; perhaps we wouldn’t be in this mess. But you’re not to be faulted for not gauging well enough and quickly enough how to deal with Escambia GOB mentality. Types like Fetsko and Adams assume that men who act in a mannerly, deferential, and exceedingly polite fashion are weak; they’re used to a culture of ass kissing and ban hammers, and aren’t very adept at nuance. Thus they assumed they could eat you alive, and went in for the clumsy kill…and, in typical fashion, weren’t prepared for a contingency plan when it didn’t go quite the way they expected. Of course, that’s the best they can do. Scheming, not planning, is their forte, as was laid bare for the world to see once again in their horrendous performance on Tuesday night.
Oh, and Paul and Kevin–educators are fleeing their jobs and this state not because of lack of leadership from people like Dr. Smith, but because of the brutal, divisive, and toxic politics people like the two of you demonstrate to them, and to our children, on the daily. God help Mr. Williams in extracting himself from from the mud with the two of you.