Selection Committee Picks Their Top 10 Candidates For Escambia County Superintendent

July 10, 2020

The list of candidates to be the next Escambia County School superintendent was narrowed from 27 to 10 favorites Thursday night by the Superintendent Search Citizens Advisory Committee .

The 10, in the order in which they submitted their applications, are:

Click or tap any applicant’s name to load their resume.

Only one of the two local candidates remains on the search committee’s original list. Keith Leonard of Cantonment is the current assistant superintendent of Human Resource Services and spent 13 years as the Escambia County School District director of Human Resource Services.

The other local candidate, Claudia Williams of Pensacola, did not make the committee’s list. She worked for the Escambia County School District for about 32 years and is currently a guidance counselor at Judy Andrews/Success Academy. She is a former District 3 board member and campaigned unsuccessfully for superintendent in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

Next up, the committee with further explore the work history, accomplishments and references for each of the 10 in preparation for their next meeting.

Technically, all 27 candidates remain until the Escambia County School Board officially cuts it to a list of finalists. They could overrule the actions of the advisory committee.

Comments

21 Responses to “Selection Committee Picks Their Top 10 Candidates For Escambia County Superintendent”

  1. Rita Jenne-Ryan on July 14th, 2020 1:38 pm

    Picking the wrong person for Superintendent can be catastrophic. I’m formally from Nashville where the School Board hired a person from Baltimore as Superintendent of the Metro School System. Within 3 years he devastated the entire system. He brought in his personal friends, ignored problems with sexual harassment complaints, insisted on having a personal driver and car. He put an unqualified Principal in position of high school which got so bad the Senior Class staged a walk out. Schools ran out of supplies and popular reading programs stopped. Some School Board members tried to rein him, he in turn disparaged them. Finally the Board bought out the last year of his contract just to get rid of him. Candidates must be vetted, check their backgrounds and job performances at other places they worked.

  2. kelly on July 14th, 2020 6:27 am

    How interesting are the comments from the ones who appear to be more concerned that there are no women candidates, then the actual qualifications of the candidates. It shows the mindset of a portion of our citizens. Worried more with political correctness, discrimination or something that should be second place to the education of our children.

  3. Alexa on July 12th, 2020 5:05 pm

    I’m interested how from the 27 there were many female qualified applicants, yet not one made the cut. Discrimination?

  4. bob c on July 12th, 2020 9:35 am

    GAVE UP our Right to Vote for Superintendent.
    Allow a “Committee” to Select and Appoint who runs the day-to-day operations of our school system.
    Those interested in Controlling the Citizens Rights must be celebrating their new found Power to manipulate.
    How long will it be before WE Surrender All our Voting Rights because we are told that some Committee or Counsel has better judgment than We The People?
    Where is our nation headed? Happy to be an OLD Person….

  5. Lee on July 11th, 2020 6:42 pm

    @ Disappointed–I trust that the top 10 are the BEST QUALIFIED to lead our district. Race, sex, or veteran service should NOT matter. Best qualified gets the job! I don’t choose a surgeon based on those and you don’t either! Shallow thinking! :(

  6. R C on July 11th, 2020 10:25 am

    Don’t miss this opportunity to bring in a new direction for the school district. We must get rid of the old personality, old boy system of the past and chart a new path forward based on performance and results. No more nepotism and favorites! We owe it to our children to provide the best education possible, now is the time for new beginnings! Choose wisely.

  7. Out side looking in on July 10th, 2020 11:56 pm

    I think it will be good to get a person from out side Escambia County. Get rid of the good ole boy system

  8. Disappointed on July 10th, 2020 7:27 pm

    No women, all men. Sad

  9. Searching on July 10th, 2020 4:12 pm

    Bring in new blood. We don’t need some good ol’ boy who’s watching out for his buddies when he gets the gig and pads the administration with cronies…. Now is a chance to get this right. .

  10. just sayin on July 10th, 2020 2:49 pm

    Keith Leonard all the way.

  11. thetruth on July 10th, 2020 1:44 pm

    So we kept a guy who resigned abruptly in Texas and under a cloud of suspicion, where he would not answer questions for the media and neither would the school board, but they paid him out to leave early. A simple google search provided that info, guess the “citizens committee” missed that. And selected another guy who has worked in 3 different states in the last three years, not a nail in the coffin, but also not a good look either. Who all is on the citizens committee again ? Is that the committee where Slayton put his son in law on the committee ?

  12. Glad on July 10th, 2020 12:45 pm

    We need to have an appointed superintendent, because if he’s not doing well at the job, he can be fired, unlike Malcolm Thomas who catered to those who consistently voted him into office. Good riddance.

  13. William Reynolds on July 10th, 2020 12:35 pm

    >>>The links to the applicants resume and letters should not be available to the public as it has personal information such as addresses, references from others, etc.

    That information is all public record in Florida. When you click and load a resume above, you are loading directly from the Escambia County School District website. They are providing the information. And since they are all public employees, the information is mostly likely also public record and freely available in their home counties.

  14. terry on July 10th, 2020 11:49 am

    keith leonard is a proven leader ,he gets my vote.

  15. concerned public on July 10th, 2020 10:50 am

    The links to the applicants resume and letters should not be available to the public as it has personal information such as addresses, references from others, etc. While applying for a public position, applicants personal information should not be available for review. Applicant’s addresses and emails should also not be made available.

  16. Becky on July 10th, 2020 10:46 am

    I wish this list included a strong female candidate

  17. Person 1 on July 10th, 2020 10:12 am

    The people voted and chose to surrender their vote for Superintendent. Deal with it.

  18. JTV on July 10th, 2020 9:39 am

    @Anne you are 100% correct

  19. Michael A Emmons on July 10th, 2020 8:16 am

    Keith Leonard hands down for the best candidate….. Tough job whoever gets appointed.

  20. Michael A Emmons on July 10th, 2020 8:15 am

    No doubt…. Keith Leonard hands down…… Tough job regardless whoever is appointed…..

  21. Anne on July 10th, 2020 7:00 am

    KEITH LEONARD….is THE One to Best Serve OUR Students and the School System.

    IF We’d not Stupidly given up OUR Right To Vote for Superintendent KEITH LEONARD would get the Vote of Each of Us.

    School Board Members…..we will NOT Surrender Our Right to Vote on YOUR jobs.

    God Bless Whoever Gets the job of Superintendent of Schools.
    It is a Tough TOUGH Job.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News