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Escambia Voters May Again Be Asked If The School Superintendent Should Be Elected Or Appointed
February 14, 2025
Voters in Escambia County could once against be asked to decide if the school superintendent should be elected or appointed.
In 2018, Escambia County voters narrowly approved a ballot referendum for an appointed superintendent, with 50.36 voting yes and 49.64 percent voting now. This was the sixth time voters had considered the idea of an appointed superintendent in the county; all of the other attempts failed.
Now. District 5 school board member Tom Harrell wants to put the issue back on the ballot in 2028.
Harrell proposed a resolution for next week’s board meeting to place it on the ballot in 2026, later changing that to 2028 during a Thursday school board workshop.
Harrell said she as he was campaigning for office last year, he heard an overwhelming majority of people in the district wanted a return to an elected superintendent. He said that was no reflection on current Superintendent Keith Leonard, noting that Leonard has done an outstanding job and will hopefully be in office for some time to come.
“I feel very strongly about this,” Harrell, who campaigned on a return to an elected superintendent, said. “The county, I think, feels very strongly. There’s never anything wrong with letting the people decide. When you have a democracy, it’s all about people making decisions.”
“Deep down in my heart, having been here in this district for 60 years, that’s what the people of this district want,” Harrell added. “It’s the right time; it’s the right thing to do.”
Leonard said he would run the district the same whether elected or appointed.
“Would I change how I do business if I were appointed or elected? No,” Leonard said. “I would do business exactly the same way.”
District 3 school board member David Williams said he will not support the referendum because the district is currently doing well with an appointed superintendent, a sentiment echoed by District 4 member Carissa Bergosh.
District 2 member Paul Fetsko said he would support the referendum if it coincided with the 2028 Presidential Primary with an anticipated higher turnout that midterms will bring in 2026. And District 1 member David Adams also voiced his support; Adams made a similar proposal in 2023, but it was rejected by the board 3-2.
“We can’t have it both. Either we are happy with the appointed, and everybody’s up here praising the appointed right now,” Williams said after the discussion. “But yet we are voting to go elected. I just don’t understand that.”
The school board attorney will work on the resolution to return to the school board in April. If the school board approves the referendum proposal to allow voters to again choose between and elected or appointed school superintendent, it will be sent to the Escambia County Commission to be placed on the ballot.
Comments
17 Responses to “Escambia Voters May Again Be Asked If The School Superintendent Should Be Elected Or Appointed”
We should be able to vote for one.
After Covid the citizens started looking at government and things like this subject a little closer ; notice all the rats that have jumped ship in the last couple of years or booted out . Shine the light aka sunshine to disinfect .
Downtown Bunch of Would-Be Power Brokers pushed their liberal agenda to appoint Mr. Smith to Supt of Schools which was a Disaster from Day–1.
We Voted AGAINST Appointing OUR Superintendent of Schools.
We WILL Vote to VOTE For and Elect our Superentendent from now on.
Should Mr.Leonard decide to run for office we will Definately Support Him.
VOTE-ELECT-by WE the CITIZENS of Escambia County.
Never Ever Surrender your Right to Vote…..
As a retired Civics teacher in Escambia County, I preached to my students, to study each candidate’s background, their platform and their future goals and then VOTE YOUR CONVICTIONS…this is no reflection on our present superintendent [ he was the one I would have voted for] but the previous superintendent was promoted by some of the downtown power brokers and he had no working knowledge of how our schools were organized and the communities that make up those schools..I WILL NEVER WILLINGLY GIVE UP MY RIGHT TO VOTE..OUR DEMOCRACY DEPENDS ON IT!
I voted for an appointed superintendent.
What would change my mind? A term limit of 8 years (two terms). Same goes for every elected official, including constitutional officers.
Otherwise, I’ll vote for an appointed superintendent again.
Cool. Let’s have the superintendent spend most of their time campaigning instead of focusing on educating our children.
@ L.B. The gentleman they gave the job to before Mr Leonard is why we should vote. We wanted Keith, the board decided to go find a liberal turd to run our school system. Vote, vote, vote
Never give up your right to VOTE!
Funded by taxpayers. For the people by the people NOT the inner circle . Let the voters taxpayers decide .
Agree with LB & Interesting. We the citizens of Escambia Co should elect the School Superintendent & not just 5 board members. Keith Leonard is doing a great job. Glad to know he’ll take the job again whether appointed or elected. He’s for the teachers & the kids.
Can we remember there was a gentleman before Mr. Leonard that should have never been there. Appointed by a board and kept in place by 3 votes to the detriment of the district.
This was the biggest right grab for Escambia county I have ever seen. We need to vote for it.
After the tim smith failure . Elect !
Only a fool gives up their right to vote for anything.
Mr. Leonard is doing a remarkable job. As he stated “Elected or Appointed”, he’s going to do what he does. I support Mr. Leonard. Why should we try to fix something that’s working for the good of our children? It’s not broken. And if it was, WE (The people of Escambia County), know how to FIX IT. Great job Mr. Leonard, keep up the good work.
“District 3 school board member David Williams said he will not support the referendum because the district is currently doing well with an appointed superintendent,”
someone should remind David Williams that they had to fire the first one they appointed to get where they are now. Point being, neither option guarantees the right person will be there. Currently the position is in great hands, but that isn’t a guarantee regardless of how the superintendent is decided upon.
This is a tough one to decide. I can see pros and cons with either way. But when it comes down to it, I’d say the people should be allowed to choose.