A timeline of Palm Beach County schools superintendents dating back to 1900 - before Dade split in 1909
Mike Burke is the 27th superintendent — 26th if you count the one who served twice. The lineage dates back to when the area was part of what was called Dade County, before it split in 1909.
The shortest tenure: 1 month (James Daniels, 1991). The longest: 15 years (Howell Watkins, 1948 to 1964).
Here's a list, with starting date:
James C. Harris (July 13, 1900): The first superintendent, he also founded the downtown West Palm Beach store and the building carries his name.
Henry W. Lewis (Dec. 9, 1910): The county's first elected superintendent, a news article called him a "painstaking officer."
Guy Metcalf (Jan. 2, 1917): Publisher of the region's first newspaper, a mayor of West Palm Beach, and a key mover in the county's split from Dade, he was arrested for forging a bill for $333.49 for science equipment; he was found dead the next day of an apparent suicide.
Jackson B. McDonald (Feb. 15, 1918): He went on to become Martin County's first superintendent when the county split off in 1925.
W. E. Keen (Dec. 4, 1918): Reported to the governor in 1920 that in two years, enrollment had jumped from 2,000 to nearly 2,500 — at least in the White schools. Black student enrollment isn't mentioned. He also said seven rural schools had been built. And he complained that the School Board pay of only $4 a day mostly attracted "inexperienced business men."
Agnes Ballard (Jan. 4, 1921): The county's first — and for seven decades, the only — female superintendent also was Florida's first female licensed architect.
Joe A. Youngblood (Jan. 6, 1925): He steered the booming region for a dozen years before leaving to run the National Youth Administration.
John I. Leonard (Sept. 21, 1936): In his dozen years, the county struggled through the Depression, World War II came right to Florida's shores, and black teachers began struggling for equal rights. He also was the first president of Palm Beach Junior — now State — College.
Howell L. Watkins (July 2, 1948): The county's longest-serving superintendent, Watkins founded Palm Beach Junior College in 1933 and was its dean.
John W. Martin (Jan. 1, 1964): The district's former business manager was interim superintendent for a year.
Robert W. Fulton (Jan. 5, 1965): He struggled with the county's early desegregation efforts.
Lloyd Early (Sept. 1, 1968): Two years into his term, then-Gov. Claude Kirk suspended him amid charges of malfeasance and incompetence.
Athelstan Spilhaus (Aug. 23, 1970): The scientist and educator served only three months before the state Senate reinstated Early.
Lloyd Early (Nov. 16, 1970): The county's last elected superintendent said on his departure that he feared the county's school board had too much power.
Joseph Carroll (Jan. 2, 1973): On his resignation, the county's first appointed superintendent in seven decades said his candor in releasing dismal test scores had harmed the school system's reputation.
Thomas J. Mills (July 1, 1978): In his 13 years — the second-longest among superintendents — the county's population nearly doubled. In 1986, he pushed through a $317 million school construction bond.
James G. Daniels (July 1, 1991): A former deputy superintendent, he was called out of retirement to briefly serve.
C. Monica Uhlhorn (Aug. 21, 1991): Florida's first ever female appointed superintendent was ousted a week after an ABC News report posed her as a national model of what's wrong with public education.
Bernard Shulman (July 16, 1995): Then a deputy superintendent, he served as interim superintendent for a year.
Joan P. Kowal (March 17, 1996): The former Daytona Beach-area schools chief served four years before she was fired following low evaluations.
H. Benjamin Marlin (Dec. 13, 1999): Hired as an interim, he stayed for 15 months.
Art Johnson (March 28, 2001): He left amid controversy over then-chief academic officer Jeffrey Hernandez's curriculum policies and reported out-of-town moonlighting.
William F. Malone (Feb. 22, 2011): Hired as an interim, he later agreed to stay on through August 2012, but stepped down early for health reasons.
Wayne Gent (Nov. 7 2011): Gent began as interim superintendent with the understanding he would not apply for the permanent post. But when a national search yielded no consensus candidates, the School Board turned to Gent. On July 1, 2015, Gent became superintendent of St. Lucie Public Schools.
Robert Avossa (July 6, 2015) The superintendent in Fulton County, Ga., Avossa, 43 at the time, was hired after a national search. He resigned to work in the private sector.
Donald Fennoy (April 4, 2018) A protégé of Avossa’s from their shared time in Orange County public schools, Avossa brought Fennoy to the district in 2016 as chief operating officer. Fennoy was the county's first black schools superintendent. At age 41, he also appeared to be the county's youngest since at least the 1930s. Fennoy announced he would step down over the summer.
Mike Burke (July 28, 2021; Oct. 20, 2021) Burke was appointed to superintendent in the interim in July and lands the permanent job Oct. 20.
sisger@pbpost.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mike Burke is the latest in long line of Palm Beach County school superintendents
