Alachua County students, families deserve better from superintendent
At the special Alachua County School Board meeting on Jan. 5, the board adopted an evaluation tool presented by the superintendent and also agreed that board members could use a narrative to complete the evaluation.
Certainly, the time has come to evaluate the superintendent’s performance in maintaining or improving the quality of the district’s educational program as well as relationship with employees and community. Following are some points the board should consider when completing this evaluation:
• The board gave a directive to safely open school with a mask mandate. While this was controversial, the superintendent met this goal to ensure student and employee safety. Performance Score: Effective
• In the area of student performance, the graduation rate dropped from 90% to 86% and the district grade dropped from an A to a B. Certainly, any performance score has to take into consideration the impact of COVID-19. However, other school districts in Florida that are comparable to Alachua County, such as Leon County, maintained a graduation rate of 94% despite COVID-19. Performance Score: Needs Improvement
• As the board addressed the school zone in the fall of 2020 for what was then School I, the directive given was for comprehensive rezoning. This was to be completed by fall 2022. This was to help alleviate the overcrowded schools on the west side of town.
Children are still eating lunch at 9:30 a.m. The focus was also to consider equity concerns and underutilized schools on the east side of town. Failure to complete this directive has resulted in the need for spot rezoning. Performance Score: Unsatisfactory
• One responsibility of the superintendent is to recruit, employ and recommend to the board suitable candidates for district-level positions. During a pandemic, the supervisor of health services’ contract was non-renewed, and the person hired in this critical position does not meet the minimum qualifications such as having a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
The executive director over the department responsible for the educational programs for students with disabilities was hired without advertising the position. Since this appointment, several district staff in that department as well as others have left, which has impacted services to students.
At the school level, changes in administrators resulted in all new leadership teams affecting continuity of leadership and student success. For example, students’ Individualized Education Programs fell through the cracks during the disruption of leadership, some transition meetings did not take place and IEPs did not get transferred appropriately. Also, because of all the changes, school employees do not know who to call when they need support. Performance Score: Unsatisfactory
• Before becoming interim, the superintendent promoted community engagement and transparency. During her first year, the superintendent has held one community event where attendees did not have the opportunity to ask questions. Emails from parents go unanswered.
While in public meetings, the superintendent refers to herself as a “disrupter.” The students and families in Alachua County deserve better. They deserve a leader and not a disrupter.
The superintendent has created a lot of instability for our students at a time that stability is crucial to help our children get through these unprecedented times. It is past time to appoint a new interim superintendent and then begin a national search for a superintendent who, unlike Dr. Carlee Simon, is vetted by the community and meets the qualifications described in the superintendent contract.
Pamela Korithoski lives in Gainesville and is a parent of children in Alachua County Public Schools.
Join the conversation
Send a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines.
Journalism matters. Your support matters.
Get a digital subscription to the Gainesville Sun. Includes must-see content on Gainesville.com and Gatorsports.com, breaking news and updates on all your devices, and access to the Gainesville.com ePaper. Visit www.gainesville.com/subscribenow to sign up.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Pamela Korithoski: Alachua County deserves better from superintendent
