Escambia Interim Superintendent Leonard Rated As ‘Highly Effective’ In First Board Review

January 16, 2024

The Escambia County School Board has rated interim Superintendent Keith Leonard as “highly effective” ahead of a Tuesday night discussion that could see Leonard appointed as a permanent superintendent.

In October, the board expressed a general consensus to make Leonard the permanent boss by extending his contract. Each board member individually completed a mid-year evaluation of Leonard’s performance to date, and those were compiled by the board attorney.

Overall, Leonard scored 74.8 out of 88 for a ““highly effective” rating when the scores from the five members were combined.

Individual board members evaluated Leonard as follows:

  • District 1, Kevin Adams: 88/88, highly effective
  • District 2, Paul Fetsko: 80/88, highly effective
  • District 3, David Williams: 75/88, highly effective
  • District 4, Patty Hightower: 45/68, effective (Hightower left several sections of the review blank. That resulted in possible maximum score of 68)
  • District 5, Bill Slayton: 73/88, highly effective

Leonard was evaluated on student learning, instructional plan implementation, faculty development, decision making, leadership development, communication skills, professional and ethical behaviors.

Leonard’s current contract as interim is otherwise set to expire June 30, 2024.

The board will avoid an expensive nationwide search.  Leonard was one of four finalists in their last search which ultimately led to the hiring of Dr. Tim Smith who was later terminated.

Comments

One Response to “Escambia Interim Superintendent Leonard Rated As ‘Highly Effective’ In First Board Review”

  1. JTV on January 16th, 2024 8:21 am

    We want our vote back. Love Keith Leonard, but it should be in our hands, not the district dolts.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News