Carlee Simon Dossier – Part 2

In an email to a Glen Springs email list, Deanna Feagin, Glen Springs Elementary Principal, wrote:

“It’s with a heavy heart that I write this letter to my Glen Springs Family.  After spending three years with this wonderful school community and 28 years serving our students in this district, I wanted you to hear from me about a change at Glen Springs Elementary.

Late this afternoon a letter signed by the Superintendent [Simon] was hand-delivered to me at school. The superintendent shared in this letter that I would not be reappointed as an employee of the school board of Alachua County.

In light of the fact that I have had much support tonight from people across the district, I felt I owed it to my families to hear this directly from me.”

The community rallied behind Deanna Feagin with the #standwithDeanna hashtag and letters of support which were delivered to the Superintendent in a fruitless attempt to avoid the loss of a beloved principal. But it was to no avail. Simon terminated Feagin’s contract after almost 30 years of employment with the District, in spite of the fact that Feagin was shortly eligible for full retirement. This betrayal of faithful employee expectations was repeated again and again, as a shocking list of employees (details below) were given short notice that their contracts would not be renewed.

The following week, at a scheduled Workshop on June 2, 2021, Simon presented a radical and extensive “reorganization” plan for hiring new people to multiple administrative positions. Simon’s inexperience and lack of foresight led to a contentious Board Meeting on June 22, 2021.  During the meeting, Board members were not able to agree on the new positions requested by Simon, and only a few of Simon’s proposed positions were approved.  The “reorganization plan” died on the table — an example of Simon’s failure to anticipate the real needs of the District.

If Simon showed more humility about her lack of previous experience running a medium-sized school district, there would be much less risk of harm to the District. But Simon has repeatedly shown a lack of awareness or even caring of her own shortcomings. On August 4, 2021, for example, Simon appeared on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, where Simon blamed her own lack of experience, leadership, and foresight in firing employees on Governor DeSantis (see transcript)

“One of the things as far as the decision associated with employees, it was because I’m losing parts of our workforce. I have had schools of custodians where the entire team is gone and we are running into a situation where we know we need adults to run schools. And if my adults are sick or they’re needing to quarantine, then I don’t have adults present to provide the education.” 

Her focus on using ESSER funds for time-limited executive level positions, and the firing of good people, led to the very same staff shortages that she lamented.  Simon is “losing parts of our workforce” due to her own choices and policies. Her inability to recognize this connection is a jarring red flag, and a reminder of her lack of experience.

The worst result of her ill-conceived “reorganization” is that District morale is at an all-time low. Simon has created a climate where employees expect to be retaliated against if they express their concerns. Therefore, Simon is not receiving the feedback she needs to repair the breach in morale. A continuing downward spiral in District employee morale is inevitable without change at the top.