Chiles principal Joe Burgess files to run for Leon Schools Superintendent

Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna has the first challenge to his 2024 reelection — and it's none other than one of his principals.

Joe Burgess, the principal of Chiles High School, filed his paperwork Wednesday to take on Hanna, first elected in 2016. Hanna already has filed for reelection; Burgess is running as a no-party-affiliated candidate, Hanna as a Democrat.

Burgess, 47, has worked in the district for 25 years, previously serving as principal at Swift Creek Middle School and Springwood Elementary School, before taking over at Chiles.

Burgess held a campaign kickoff in the lobby of the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office with family and friends by his side.

"This has been a dream and I think you have dreamed this with me and this is just the beginning of the journey," Burgess told supporters. "I look forward to making the case for why I should be superintendent of Leon County schools."

At the same time, he said his taking on Hanna wasn't personal, despite a legal battle last year which ended with the school district suspending Burgess for two weeks without pay earlier this year.

Burgess, who has an otherwise sterling personnel file as an administrator, was accused of violating district policy for paying teachers for extra work without documentation.

"It's a sad day for the parents and students in Leon County Schools when paying teachers for doing more work results in a two-week suspension of the principal," Burgess said. "If that's wrong, I don't want to be right."

During an investigation, Burgess' attorney claimed that Hanna did the same thing when he was principal of Leon High School. Hanna denied that claim at the time and fired back.

"His attorney’s pathetic and untruthful attempt to turn the narrative and claim that I did something inappropriate is an insult to me and my 32-year career with our school system," Hanna said in January 2022. "It is my sincere hope that we can now put this issue behind us and refocus on the mission at hand."

Asked on Wednesday about his motivation to run, Burgess said the decision to challenge Hanna was solely his own and his campaign will be "about serving the kids and the opportunities I can provide. ... It takes everybody to help the kids."

Most of his platform revolves around several key issues such as improving school safety, boosting individual schools' academic standing and building better academic environments with tech.

"Looking at our technology development, we really have to make that investment with our kids," Burgess said. "We also need to look at how we develop our teachers and our leaders and how we develop them for changing kids. Kids always change over time, our teachers and leaders have to be able to respond to that."

Further challengers have until the summer to decide whether they'll take on the incumbent Hanna. The qualifying period for local office is noon, June 10 to noon, June 14, according to the supervisor's website.

Hanna believes his actions and record speak for itself but wishes Burgess the best during his candidacy.

“I am very proud of my record and the accomplishments we have made over the last seven years, including making our school safer, pushing more resources down to our classrooms … increasing funding for arts and athletic programs,” Hanna said. “I look forward to sharing more details about my record and my vision for the future in the months ahead.”

Editor's note — Story has been corrected to say Hanna will run as a Democrat.

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Chiles High principal files to run for superintendent of Leon Schools