SIMON IS UNQUALIFIED FOR THE SUPERINTENDENT POSITION
October 10, 2021
The Board of the Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) originally erred in selecting Superintendent Carlee Simon because it focused too heavily on academic credentials and neglected necessary executive experience. Simon lacks any management and executive experience, but the Superintendent position necessarily requires this expertise.
The Superintendent is the chief executive officer of the school district. See
Florida Statutes § 1001.51. Dr. Simon lacks applicable experience in the majority of areas required by Florida Law or her employment contract (see Dr. Simon’s CV).
The Superintendent of ACPS manages approximately 4000 employees and an annual budget of over $477 million. The superintendent position is not a job for an educational specialist like Dr. Simon who appears to have never previously managed any number of employees or a budget of any substantial size. Significantly, Simon lacks experience in leading and building consensus across a diverse array of constituents and stakeholders.
The District’s minimum qualifications for the superintendent position require the applicant have “at least three years in a senior level leadership position,” “Principal experience (strongly preferred),” and “Leadership experience in a district of 15,000 or more (preferred).” Simon lacks all three. See advertisement for previous Superintendent search (2017), noting that a similar advertisement for the 2021 Superintendent job posting cannot be found.
Dr. Simon was originally appointed on an interim basis to allow time to locate a replacement Superintendent, and her name was proposed by only one board member, Tina Certain. According to a story in Main Street Daily News,
..at the March 16 regular meeting, board members Dr. Gunnar Paulson and Robert Hyatt raised concerns about extending Simon’s contract into 2023 and the elevated salary. Mr. Hyatt offered an amendment to keep the salary at $160,000 and end on Dec. 31, 2022. Mr. Hyatt said, ‘’We were choosing an interim superintendent, we had four days. We came up with a list and the board chose Dr. Simon. And shortly after, the interim was dropped, and we go with superintendent.” Mr. Hyatt said the vetting process was sidestepped.
At the March 16, 2021 meeting, two board members (Paulson and Hyatt) voted against the raise and the extended contract (3/16/21 Meeting Minutes). Diyonne McGraw, who was later determined to have been ineligible to represent District 2 on the school board, voted with the majority. Without her vote, the motion to extend her contract would have failed, 2-2. The final contract was fully executed on March 16, 2021, with effective dates of July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023.
Take Action
The Alliance for Responsible Government encourages you to voice your opinions with the Board Members of Alachua County Public Schools.
- All five Board Members, boardmembers@gm.sbac.edu
- Dr. Leanetta McNealy (Chair), mcnealy@gm.sbac.edu
- Mrs. Tina Certain (Vice Chair), certain@gm.sbac.edu
- Dr. Gunnar Paulson, paulson@gm.sbac.edu
- Mr. Robert Hyatt, rob.hyatt@gm.sbac.edu
- Mrs. Mildred Russell, russellmc@gm.sbac.edu
- Phone: (352) 955-7546
- Mail: 620 East University Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32601
Please be aware that emails and letters received by School Board members, the Superintendent, or School Board employees may constitute “public records” within the meaning of F.S. 119.011, Florida Statutes, which would require that the School District make them available for inspection and copying on the request of any person, except for personally identifiable student information, which is confidential and exempt from disclosure without your knowledge and consent. In addition, under Florida law, F.S. 668-6076, email addresses are public records. If you do not want your email address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.