Voters: Next superintendent will be hired

By Steve Estes

Beginning in 2012, the Superintendent of Schools will be hired by the Monroe County School Board.

So said the voters of the county Tuesday night by an overwhelming margin.

The question was whether the current elected superintendent model should be tossed out in favor of a school superintendent hired by the local elected school board.

And the answer from the voters was a resounding yes.

A supermajority of a slim voter turnout approved the appointed superintendent model for the school system with about 65 percent of the voters going to the polls in favor of the change.

The same question was beaten back by voters four previous times, in 1976, 1992, 1994 and most recently in 2004.

John Padget, who was a School Superintendent appointed by then Governor Jeb Bush to fill the unexpired term of former Superintendent Mike Lannon when the question was defeated by voters in 2004, said he felt the vote heralds a fundamental shift in the way people are viewing the school system.

“People are more interested in what happens in their school system now than they have been in the past,” said Padget. “They are asking the question ‘Are our children getting the best education possible?’ and aren’t convinced they are.”

Padget said the people have said, with this vote, that they want professionalism in the schools, a proven educator not a popular politician who may or not have any educational credentials to bring to the job.

Robin Smith-Martin, a candidate for the open District One School Board seat vacated by incumbent Steve Pribramsky’s decision not to run for reelection, said that the decision to go with a “professional, knowledgeable educator” in the district’s top job will “vastly improve” the school system.

Smith-Martin will face off with Barbara Bowers for the district one seat as they were the two to vote getters in that primary vote, but neither garnered a 50 percent plus one majority to win the seat outright.

The school board put the question back on the ballot after four defeats in the wake of the financial scandal that rocked the school district earlier this year.

Adult Education Coordinator Monique Acevedo, wife of then elected Schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo, was arrested for allegedly stealing about $500,000 from the district through various avenues.

Randy Acevedo was arrested for attempting to cover up those crimes and convicted of three felonies in connection with those actions. He was subsequently removed from his position by Governor Charlie Crist.

Dr. Joseph Burke, a long-time educator and former school superintendent throughout Florida, was appointed by Crist to serve as interim Superintendent until the end of Acevedo’s elected term in 2012.