Submitted by Debra J. Ackerman
August 16, 2016 3:21 p.m.
I moved from New Jersey to Nassau County in 2014, and thus have spent much of the past two years learning about the many plusses – and occasional minuses – of living in northeast Florida. One of the differences which I have found to be the most unusual is the election of our school district’s superintendent, as opposed to going through a business-typical model of searching, interviewing, and appointing someone based on their qualifications, skills, and experience.
Interestingly, just three states – Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi – allow specific districts to elect their local K-12 superintendents. Furthermore, 45 of the 49 states with local superintendents require these individuals to have prior experience as a licensed teacher or school administrator and/or a graduate degree specifically related to school administration. In contrast, Florida statute merely requires an elected candidate for superintendent to be a registered voter in the county in which the election is being held and reside in that county at the time of assuming office.
Both common sense and a significant research base suggest being an effective school superintendent requires something more than simply living and voting in a particular county. Of course, these characteristics will vary depending on the needs of a district.
However, the following factors have been identified as critical:
- Vision and goals for the district;
- Capacity to collaborate with internal (e.g., teachers, principals, school board) and external (e.g., taxpayers, local businesses, non-profit organizations which support the district) stakeholders;
- Instructional leadership: ability to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate the district’s instructional and assessment policies, as well as provide relevant and ongoing professional development;
- Managerial leadership in terms of legal, financial, and personnel issues; and
- Capacity to serve as the “voice” of and advocate for the district.
Given that collaboration is a key aspect of being a superintendent, if a candidate already resides in a school district, he or she might be better positioned to “hit the ground running” in this regard. At the same time, due to the instructional and managerial leadership aspects of the role, one can see why the majority of states require prior experience as a classroom teacher and/or as a principal and an advanced degree (e.g., MA/MS, EdD, or PhD) related to school administration.
I realize that I am new to Nassau County and still have a lot to learn, especially in regard to the history of and intent behind Florida’s superintendent election laws. In the meantime, I am going to ignore campaign slogans and attack ads, and instead consider each candidate’s vision and goals in light of their prior classroom teaching experience; graduate degree related to school administration; demonstrated capacity to provide instructional and managerial leadership; and potential for speaking on behalf of and about our district.
In short, while Florida statute may not require Nassau County’s K-12 superintendent to have specific skills and experience, from my personal perspective, our students and teachers deserve the candidate who is most qualified to lead the district as it continues to build on its prior achievements and offer the highest quality education. Vote wisely!
Just received more Political Smut, from the Tallahassee Super-pac with the Patriotic Name “The Liberty Leadership Fund” This one never mentions Ms. Adkins, Just denigrates Dr. Burns as “Dangerous” This type of propaganda, afends the Position of Nassau County Superintendent of Schools. As Ms. Akerman points out the Vast Majority of States, Require Qualification to be an Educational Administrator. Residing in a County, and being a good political soldier, is not enough. Once the Elections are over, The priority for us should be, to have our Board of Education,Have this responsibility, do a proper search, and vet, Candidates. As 1/3 of the Counties already do in Florida. Thank Goodness we have One Qualified person. Dr.K.Burns. Vote wisely for our Children’s education.
So Steve have you looked at the 19 political committees that gave Kathy Burns $19,000 in donations? How about the Citizens for Florida’s Prosperity that is linked to the Citizens for Better Nassau crowd who have poured over $15,000 in direct mail into Kathy Burns campaign. So why are these donors pouring in the money? Think about it. Its called Wildlight Village, Janet said NO to the 104 page local bill and they need Burns to approve the 15 new schools they want. Think about it Steve and take a closer look at what your own team and the motivation behind the screen.
The Adkins troll reemerges.
So why call Doug a troll when he writes to provide some balance against what has become an unhinged effort to support Burns? For whatever reason (advertising ?) this site has abandoned its journalistic ethics and and objectivity in its coverage of this race. From Suanne’s continued, blatant encouragement to democrats to change party affiliation to the hatchet job op-eds by Ackerman and Linda Morris, the FO has shamed itself and ultimately lessened the power of its voice. Maybe Burns is the better candidate. The voters will determine who they want. I just want fair, objective reporting and a balance of ideas in opinion pieces. Apparently not going to get that here.
Doug is the first Adkins surrogate to reply to any comment on line that suggests his wife is not the best candidate for superintendent. That is the what internet trolls do.
No Jay, internet trolls call names rather than engage in discourse. Project much?
Mr. Adkins, This last minute, Donation by Vested Interests, As you well know, is common. It’s called “Hedging Your Bets” Just part of the political process. Doug, If you’ve read my posts, you know, I’m adamantly opposed to Politicians, Lobbyist, Developers, and Contractors, from Tallahassee, Jacksonville, etc. Coming into Nassau County, Telling us “What is Best” for us. This County is Blessed with an abundance of intellegent people. We can figure it out on our own. I’ll fight, Citizens for a Better Nassau County, at every Turn. They don’t have the best interest of our Residence. But there’s the thing, Nassau Counties Superintendent of Schools. Does Not have a say, in the Development of Wild Light Development. (60,000) new residence over a 50 year timeline. or the other Development (30,000) west of I-95.and there will be others. The Superintendent has the responsibility, to provide a Quality Education, for the Children of those Community. Be that 1 or 15 new schools. I’m Impressed with Dr.K.Burns, Qualifications, and her Commitment to Education. The #1 Priority of a Superintendent should always be Education. Not where someone takes a leak. or Controlling the Curriculum, of each Teacher in the System. So Have I helped to change your mind? Probably Not. PS. I like Ms Adkins a lot, nice person, But just because she is a Registered Voter and a Resident of Nassau, Does not Qualify her for this Position.
Mrs. Ackerman is 100% correct. I am a resident of Alabama but a former resident of Nassau County. While Alabama does allow for election of Superintendents, most districts who REALLY want quality in education do NOT do this. Our County,the fastest-growing one in the state, does NOT elect a superintendent for the SAME reason that no city in their right mind would elect a city manager and no county in their right mind would elect a county manager. Voters have their say by electing their school board members. School board members usually end up being parents or grandparents, activists who care about education, and representing their constituents. However, that school board elects QUALIFIED and EXPERIENCED educators and administrators to run the school system. The model has worked very well here: Our “Learning for Life” initiative (in place since 2012) has enabled schools to retrain teachers to stop teaching from textbooks, something which may have worked 100 years ago but which is absolutely ridiculous in 2016.
All students for the last three years have been issued MacBooks (grades 4-12) and students in K-3 are issued iPads. Teachers do not tell their classes to “open up to chapter 5” and memorize something about President Lincoln. Instead, they inspire students to get on google and learn about him, spotting for key things about his presidency, his programs, his assasination, etc. and then they get into groups and make movies about Lincoln and present their movies to the class at the end of the week. This is REAL learning and mirrors the skills these students will need in real life: locating information, evaluating it, presenting it coherently, and learning that way. Edgy? Perhaps. But effective? Definitely. And to those people who say “well, textbooks worked in my day”… those peole are usually living proof that no indeed, they did NOT work.
We also have foreign language being taught K-12 here. Our school district has purchased Rosetta Stone licenses for EVERY student and EVERY employee in the district. So 12 years from now we won’t have a bunch of idiotic dolts complaining about why they have to press 1 on the phone. Instead, we’ll have entire graduating classes fluent in and appreciative of German, Spanish, French, or Chinese. And we now have Career Academies (essentially choosing a major for high school and turning that into their elective track.)
These innovations would have NEVER been possible had our Superintendent been a political hack with no real educator experience. They have been a reality now for half a decade here in Baldwin County because our school board seeks out only the BEST in a national search — and ends up hiring administrators with educational EXPERIENCE, administrative TRAINING, and a rock-solid passion for excellence and not a desire to get the job by politicking for votes.
Ed – In case you did not know, there are not enough working computers for the kids to take the tests, the career academies are a result of legislation that Janet past so there would be different paths towards a diploma, the foreign language stuff is not what you think and by the way the kids hate the chrome books and did you know that the bandwith continues to be a problem at the school? Just take a look at the body of work? Janet has organized and led six education leadership summits, legislative delegation meetings on hot topics such as pension reform, sex offenders, mental health reform, she led the charge to save the ferry, passed landmark legislation to ensure rape test kits were being tested, made electronic threats a crime, banned synthetic marijuana, fought for auditory oral programs for the deaf, fought to address the needs of the 20% of kids with dyslexia ( senate killed it), fought for road improvement dollars, worked to save Shands Hospital, cut taxes and reformed education. She has kept people informed and educated about what was happening in their government both as a school board member and a legislator. Perhaps you can name three accomplishments that Kathy Burns has led on and gotten done in the last 17 yrs? Perhaps you can explain why the school board meetings are not televised like other local government meetings? Perhaps you can explain why the #3 position was given to a Camden County educator (where Kathy works) and three highly qualified principals were passed over from Nassau? Perhaps you can explain why Kathy Burns has never been a principal, never been a vice principal, never been a school administrator and has not chaired her own school board in the last ten years? If she had an agenda or set of ideas perhaps she should have been working on those issues? Give Janet credit for her body of public service, it is disappointing that you seem to ignore what she has accomplished and the hard work and dedication she has shown in being a strong problem solver. Perhaps the worst type of public official is the “do nothing politician”, each should be able to state clearly what they accomplish rather than taking credit for the work of others or the board as a whole.
In response to Mr. Coe, I have not endorsed (or even met) any of the candidates for superintendent. Instead, as a private citizen who is both new to Florida and the process of electing individuals to this position, I am simply trying to ensure that my vote is informed by more than campaign slogans and attack ads. I would welcome the chance to receive information from Mr. Coe – or anyone else, for that matter – on the educational qualifications and school-based experience of each of the candidates.
I also should add that while almost all states require appointed local superintendents to have require prior experience as a classroom teacher and/or as a principal and an advanced degree related to school administration, these criteria appear to matter to the Florida K-12 districts which appoint their superintendents, as well. More specifically, through a quick review of district websites, LinkedIn pages, and other online sources, I was able to put together a list of the qualifications of 23 of these 26 appointed superintendents.
In short, all 23 individuals have extensive professional experience working within at least one school district, and in most cases, multiple school districts. Their typical career trajectory begins as a classroom teacher and then progressed to curriculum coordinator or team leader, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. In addition, I only found 1 case of an individual whose bio did not include time spent as a teacher or principal. However, he did list 4 school district-level administrative positions. Finally, 22 of these 23 superintendents have a graduate degree (Master’s, EdD, or PhD) related to education, educational leadership, or management. Fourteen of these individuals have an EdD or PhD.
I know we all have different criteria by which we judge any candidate’s qualifications. Based on my research, the minimum qualifications required by the majority of states, and the choices made by at least 23 Florida school districts which appoint their K-12 superintendents, I choose to prioritize each candidate’s prior experience as a classroom teacher and/or as a principal and an advanced degree related to school administration.
So when you ask for information regarding the “school based experience” of the candidates and choose to “prioritize each candidate’s prior experience as a classroom teacher” you clearly telegraph your preference even if you try to hide behind a veneer of objectivity. The fact that you may not have endorsed Burns doesn’t lessen the attack nature of your opinion piece.
If you will read carefully my response above you will see that I am not supporting either candidate in this race. I’m not even eligible to vote in Nassau County although I do pay property taxes. I was bemoaning the obvious bias shown by the FO for Burns, and to a lesser extent hit pieces such as yours.
Having taught at Fernandina Beach High School for 6 years after initial Navy civilian and military retirement – and having lived in Fernandina for the past 17 years, observing people, politics, and consequences of Tea Party policy in Florida, – I would add my own simple opinion on the Adkins’ efforts to take control of our children’s education.
Janet and Doug Adkins are ready and willing to disrupt an entire public school system that now has functioned at very high level (for over 10 years) for their narrow and limited view of what constitutes an education – including changing texts, controlling instruction, and imposing personal preferences on curriculum. Perhaps they would be better off starting their own version of a “private”(or “charter”) school and competing rather than attempting a hostile takeover of a technically advanced, seasoned, highly regarded, and highly rated public competitor. All we have to lose is a generation of Nassau County kids.
Robert – we have two children who attend the local schools, as parents we know what assignments are made, what the school climate is like and what is working well and what is not working well. But this is not about electing a teacher, its about leadership. Consider the facts for a moment;
* The accreditation agency AdvanceED cited the school board as individuals and as a whole for failing to meet the accreditation standards for professional development on the boards roles and responsibilities They also were cited for a lower use of technology than the national standard. ( BTW – Janet has a degree in information science and was sponsor of the ground breaking coding bill to help expand STEM opportunities)
* With a 46% turnover rate in our teaching positions over the last four years, it costs real money when teachers and other personnel are leaving our district. Personnel decisions have a direct impact on student performance and outcomes. Kathy Burns has stated three times that teachers are not leaving because of low pay.
* Duval County starting teacher pay is now higher than Nassau County starting teacher pay. The starting teacher pay is $38,000 in Nassau and is $39,000 in Duval. With a looming teacher shortage she offers no ideas on how to address this issue.
* The school district has fallen to a “B”rated school system in 2016.
* There is $325,000 spent each year on employee travel, this is not just student field trips but send 10 people to Disney for a conference from the same school.
Consider the following:
• Nassau County SAT scores have dropped 165 points in 4 years, representing an 11% decline.
• In 2013 West Nassau High School tested 22 fewer students yet the SAT scores fell by 52 points.
• In 2015 Hilliard Middle Senior tested 26 more students yielding an increased SAT score.
• 70% of the students at West Nassau failed the Algebra I proficiency test. Looking at the same cohort of students at Callahan Middle School the prior year, only 26% of those students passed the Algebra I proficiency test.
• In Algebra I, 37% of the students at Hilliard Middle Senior scored a level 1 (the lowest level); 40% scored level 1 at Yulee High School; and 48% of students at West Nassau scored level 1.
• 62% of students at WNHS failed Geometry and 75% failed the Algebra II end of course exams
• Nassau County ranked below the state average in the percentage of students attending a post-secondary college (42.7% vs. 52%, 2013), Of Nassau County students headed to college, 28.9% attended a community college and 14.2% attended a four-year university.
These are the facts, you need to take a minute to understand the direction or trends that are unfolding, it takes leadership and a commitment to addressing the problems rather than the constant drum beat of heaping praises on past accomplishments. The real leaders seek to identify the trends, work to craft a plan to address those issues and spend valuable board time focused on the issues.
Just review the school board meetings I have taped and posted on the youtube channel for Parents for Accountability and Choice, tell me if you see an agenda that is focused on the challenges facing our schools? The work of these meetings should be focused on the issues – for instance where does the board “draw the line” on the use of instructional materials that contain sexually explicit content?
The “math crisis” in Nassau County is a real issue, failure to recognize this challenge will only result in further erosion of academic success for our students and ultimately for our economy. Regardless of who you support consider the facts and lets discuss what needs to happen to improve the ability of our kids to compete and innovate. Its interesting that there have been no letters or even any comments from Kathy Burns on the record, when you think about who will communicate you will see that Janet has the superior record over her time in public service. Perhaps Kathy Burns should start to articulate her “vision” rather some generic statements on her website that are suppose to compose the foundation of that vision. Go to http://www.janetadkins.com and you will see Janet has clearly outlined what she will do.
Well It’s clear in the responses of Doug Adkins in Defence of Janet, That we can have two Informed Politicians for the price of one in the Educational process in Nassau County. Something to think about. BTW anyone seen the Adkins TV Commercial. I’ve not, but heard it was very informative.
With every negative statement made about the current state of our schools, I would like to point out that every budget cut to education is made by voting on lower property taxes, increase spending on incarceration, higher spending on drug tests for welfare recipients, etc.
Those votes and bills can be passed by a state Representative. With every single one of them, funding generally comes from school budgets.
Dr. Burns has never been a State Representative higher than on a citizen level.
Every problem that has been stated with the school system (as if we have many) does not fall back on the person that has yet to be elected. However, someone who has already been elected could easily share in that blame by throwing money at places where it really isn’t necessary.
David – you are mistaken – Kathy Burns proudly brags about cutting school board taxes in her mail outs. By contrast Janet as a member of the House Education Appropriation committee fought for the highest level of funding at $7138/ student. She has fought to bring more than $12 million to Nassau County schools with over $3.6 million in the last two years in new money. The fact is the teachers did not get a pay raise and instead to compensate for the bad deals and no bid contracts being handed out the school board asked the teachers to hold off on a raise so they could bump up reserves for the election season. Janet has committed to improvging teacher pay, Kathy Burns refuses to commit to improving salaries, Janet has committed to finding the $1 million needed for the teacher planning time, Kathy Burns refuses to take a stand one way or the other. Did I mention that the increase in the education funding this year did not come from property taxes but rather new dollars resulting in a property tax cut thanks to Janet’s work. The reality is that Kathy Burns has been on the school board for 17 years, she has never been a principal, never taught middle or high school, never been a district administrator and has not chaired the school board in ten years! So you should ask why has she not advanced to leadership roles in her profession? The facts are indisputable.
You know, I’m really glad you mentioned that property tax cut. You forgot the part about the same tax cut Janet advocated on a bill in 2011 that cut our already low property taxes, which in turn cut our education funding, teachers salaries, textbooks, supplies, etc., because the money has to some from somewhere! That doesn’t sit well with someone running for Superintendent of Schools.
You’re absolutely correct that the facts are indisputable. The fact is that people aren’t voting for Janet because of someone else running against her having a background in education, someone who has the qualifications for the job, and someone WHO WAS ENDORSED BY THE CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT. You denigrate everyone who says anything that she’s done either unfairly, or you IMMEDIATELY slam anyone who comments on an opinion article written from a centralist perspective on how someone should be elected into a position. That’s not someone I want around the school board or my children.
Kathy has been the Executive Director of ARC for eighteen years, and she’s been a teacher outside the county for the entirety of her time on the Nassau County School Board, which as you know prohibits her from teaching inside the county. Stating that “She’s never been a teacher, district administrator, principal,” is bunk.
As you know from Florida State law, “No public officer or employee of an agency shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or any agency which is subject to the regulation of, or is doing business with, an agency of which he or she is an officer or employee.”
F.S. 112.313(7), (10)
Exclusions DO NOT INCLUDE education, so what’s the point of pointing out things that everyone knows from her campaign website unless it’s some sort of scare tactic used to illicit false hope in a candidate that has no background in any educational setting aside from poor marketing skills? You’re not doing yourself any favors by going on an opinion page and telling everyone their opinion means nothing.
I am going to post this link to Adkins’ hit piece “commercial”. Aside from it’s fear mongering and fabricated treatment of reality, on it’s face, it represents a admission against her own interest. Public schools are the bedrock foundation of civil society in America – a function requiring open eyes and open minds. Our schools are intended to be, and must be, be places of education and enlightenment, not places of indoctrination into Janet’s personal ideology, religious extremism, and bigotry.
John Dewey’s basic belief that civil democracy and enlightened public education go hand in hand will be directly impacted should Adkins be elected. As I wrote before in this opinion section, If she wants to push her narrow limited view of education, she should start her own private or charter school and compete, not attempt a hostile takeover of a high level, well functioning school system that serves the needs and nurtures the futures of over 11,000 students in Nassau County. Kathy Burns – a lighthouse. Adkins – risk on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BEVKNFAQ3s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey
I think Robert is on to something, a Private Academy. “Adkins Academy” But I do think the ground work should be started, while Ms. Adkins is still a State Legislator, It does have its advantages when Starting a new Business. Applications, seems to flow smoother, Local, State and Federal Grants, seem to be more available, Doors just open easier. In the service it as called (RHIP) Rank Has Its Privilege. Something to think about.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post a thoughtful comment in response to my original article. This discussion has answered my personal questions in regard to which of the candidates has prior experience as a licensed K-12 classroom teacher.
In response to a comment made above, and in the respectful spirit of continuing to expand my own knowledge base, I am curious to know others’ perceptions about the extent to which it matters if a prospective superintendent’s teaching experience is “limited” to elementary school vs. at the middle and high school level.
I ask because given the extensive research base on the training and experience needed to become an effective educator at the elementary or middle and secondary content area (e.g., science, math, etc.) level – not to mention state teacher licensure/certification regulations – from my perspective, it would be highly unusual for a school district to expect a potential superintendent to be licensed to teach in every available option. In fact, while many states require prospective superintendents to have prior experience as a teacher or school administrator, no state requires teaching experience at all three grade levels. Furthermore, in looking at the publicly available bios of Florida’s appointed K-12 superintendents, one sees a range of grades and secondary content areas, including former elementary teachers (e.g., Mr. Jacob Oliva of Flagler County, Dr. Lori Romano of Hernando County, Mr. Jeff Eakins of Hillsborough County, Dr. Diana Greene of Manatee County, and Lori White of Sarasota County).
In short, one of the main issues for me in the current race for superintendent is whether a candidate has experience as a licensed/certified classroom teacher, not the specific licensure/certification itself. But, should we also expect a potential superintendent to have experience in all three grade levels? Or, based on your experience as a teacher or other district employee, does having experience at a specific grade level provide some type of advantage in terms of a superintendent’s effectiveness?
You raise a great question. I’m not an educator and have no educational experience and therefore I know that I would be immensely UNqualified on that reason alone. But with regard to which grade level or which subject matter, I guess more is better than less. That being said, I have many friends in education here where I live and I’m part of an organization that is deeply involved in the schools on many levels. I have asked many of my educator friends which grade level is the most challenging for being a teacher and almost all of them tell me the most challenging and difficult one is middle school. The reasons they give me are usually similar…. that children of that age are the most difficult to manage, attention spans, hormones, stuck somewhere between young childhood and early adulthood, etc etc. Not an expert but that does make some sense to me. While educational experience is great (and in my opinion absolutely necessary), it should be coupled with someone with experience in administration and in how a good school system is supposed to work.
The skill set needed for being a good school board member is NOT the same skill set as what is needed for being a superintendent. Both of your candidates have had school board experience, and they probably cancel each other out in that regard. I’ve voted for them both in the past on multiple occasions. It’s the remaining part of the skill set that provides the sharpest contrast.
From my perspective as a business community activist who supports education, my eyes have been greatly awakened in the last few years by a book called “Schools Can’t Do It Alone” by Jamie Volmer, who is a former successful business owner & entrepreneur. I have had the chance to meet him and talk with him, and our chamber actually brought him to town for a series of meetings with educators and business people when we were in the middle of a campaign to support school funding. He shattered a lot of myths that he himself used to beleive in (such as that a school needs to be run “like a business”, which makes a really nice right-wing sound-bite, but is pretty much nonsense for all the reasons he carefully outlines). His book has become the “gold standard” for business support of schools and citizen support of their school districts.
As far as the race in Nassau County, I do believe that Kathy Burns is by far the most qualified candidate. But any concern I have aboutwhether she has taught in one grade or another is minor compared to the complete SHOCK and DISGUST over the despicable advertising tactics of her opponent. When they put out sickening political trash like the videos and mailings they have been making, they completely forfeit their right to be a legitimate part of any discussion on good education. They have willingly given us an open window their character and their soul. It’s particularly disappointing to me because I had supported her in previous races. I expected better. On that ALONE, their side have forfeited their claim to any decency, forfeited their right to be taken seriously in any part of the conversation, and demontrated their unsuitability to be in any position where they might be in a position to set an example for young people. And certainly not worthy of responding to any of their previous or future replies on here or anywhere else.