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Escambia Superintendent Candidate Pool Narrowed To Four
August 20, 2020
The pool of candidates to become the next Escambia County school superintendent is now down from six to four.
The Escambia County School Board removed one name from the list this week, and one other candidate has withdrawn his name from consideration.
The four remaining semi-finalists are:
- Dr. Earl Johnson – Executive director Leadership/Operations Flagler County Schools (FL), 13,000 students, 2017 to present. Previous: High school and elementary principal Flagler County, 2004-2017.
- Keith C. Rittel — Superintendent, Provo, UT, 18,000 students, 2012-present. Previous: Deputy superintendent, Clover Park (Lakewood, WA), 12,000 students, 2008-2012.
- Dr. Timothy A. Smith – Executive area director of high schools, Orange County (FL), 212,000 students, June 2018 to present. Previous: Principal of Winter Park High School (FL), 3,400 students, July 2010-June 2018.
- Keith Leonard – assistant superintendent of Human Resource Services Escambia County, 40,500 students, June 2020-present. Previous: Director of Human Resources, Escambia County, 2007-2020.
Vincent Cotter withdrew from consideration due to family obligations, and the board did not advance Marques Stewart.
Board members expressed concern that Stewart did not have enough experience at the district level. Stewart, a 1996 Woodham High School graduate, is currently a 9th grade principal at an Atlanta high school and spent four years at middle school principal.
The only finalist to receive a vote from all five school board members was Smith, who has been in school administration in Orange County for three decades. The other three semi-finalists received three votes each from board members.
“I like the fact that he comes from a large district. He’s in Florida. He’s got education degrees, but his undergraduate degree was in business,” Board Chair Patty Hightower said. “He also mentions the military, needing to address the military and communicate well with the military.”
The school board will invite the four semi-finalists to Escambia County August 26-28. August 27 will be a day of interviews that will be streamed online for the public to see, and the public will have a chance to submit questions. Each of the four will also take part in one-on-one interviews with school board members.
In November 2018, Escambia County citizens voted to move from an elected to an appointed superintendent. Malcolm Thomas, the current elected superintendent, will retire in November. The school hopes to name his replacement by September 1 with an anticipated start date of November 17.
Comments
9 Responses to “Escambia Superintendent Candidate Pool Narrowed To Four”
Why do we always think hiring someone from out of the area is better? That didn’t work for the Sheriff or the Jail Superintendent. Local guys always seem to do better. Any out of towner will establish his own good ole’ boy system in no time.
Deja vu all over again. Why would anyone from outside Escambia County apply for a job where one of the candidates is a local? Just applying means they haven’t studied much about the local scene- disqualify!
Keith Leonard is most likely to get the job, mark my word. He should not even be considered. He’s part of the good old boy system that has reined at the District for too long. I hope they don’t put Him in that position. They can find much better candidates. Sorry
Agree with John and JW. Out with Leonard. He does not support teachers.
All these Leonard shills in the comments. JW had it right, out with Leonard.
None of these candidates look like good choices though. Need a wider net and more choices.
@Rose A business degree has nothing to do with the qualifications of this position.
This should be a job for a local person that has been from the ground up. Keith Leonard is that person. He can relate to kids, teachers, staff and the community. The other candidates are good wallpaper with their resumes but we need to keep this job at home. If you want some good feedback take a sample from the community and teaching staff.
Dr Timothy A. Smith should become our next Escambia school superintendent he has experience in education he has experience working in a large district, and has a business degree. To me that a win win for our students.
To me, Keith Leonard would be the best choice as someone local whos been part of the Escambia School district since the 90s and has been involved with the administrative side since the early 2000s. He knows the people already and he knows the needs of the county already.
Please pick someone besides Leonard. Stop the good ole boy network In Escambia County and give our students a chance. He is human resources and the others have been school leaders or superintendent? Why is he still in the running? .. THE most boring video as well… Because he is just going through the motions. He already knows he is successor to his buddy Malcom. This is just a formality….