 But first do all schools is still working to land a permanent superintendent the former superintendent Diana green took Leave at the beginning of June this year and officially retired in July Amidst a wave of teacher misconduct complaints will brown or reporter with Jacksonville today has been following the story and will is here With me now will how are you? I am great. Good morning. Good morning and listen you at home. Yes I'm talking to you. You can join the conversation. Give us a call 549 2937 You can tweet us at FCC on air first goes connect at W JCT or you can find us on Facebook and Instagram We are here for you and asking you to join the conversation. So will When I was beginning this conversation, I started off by saying Former superintendent Diana green took leave at the beginning of June this year and officially retired in July Amidst a wave of teacher misconduct complaints that is an over simplification of the situation when it comes to Dr. Green and her tenure as a super as superintendent. Can you kind of fill in the blanks for me a little bit? Well, a lot of these blanks were started by my wonderful, but departed Jacksonville today colleague Claire Heddles Who did some outstanding reporting in short? There were a number of teachers, I think for during The second half of the 22 23 academic year who were placed on miscount who were placed only for a variety of misconduct issues One was arrested and charged who is he's since pled not guilty And after he was arrested he went into he took retirement Others were for just comments that were said in the classroom and school board member Laurie Hershey says that what took place at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts was the game changer for her in terms of Dr. Diana greens tenure as Superintendent of Duvall County Public Schools You know there when when dr. Green was forced out When dr. Green was Took retirement, excuse me earlier this spring You know and some school board members even mentioned like the shooting that took place at Raines High School in 2018 as Justification that she's not keeping children safe. That was what they were saying. Yeah, all of this sounds really trumped up and I would just say that I As a parent in Duvall County as I am yes, I'm much older than you though I'm about to go back on you. I'm a seasoned parent. I don't have children in Duvall County schools right now all my kids have graduated but three of my kids went to Douglas Anderson and One specifically of the people that were removed out of the classroom And and I would say that like, you know back in the day like, you know, we're talking about Man 2015 maybe even before that like I did a lot of volunteer work at Douglas Anderson and I worked with a lot of students And I would hear comments about this teacher Way back then right so I guess what the point I'm trying to make is that this one of the teachers that was removed out of the school Everybody knew what was going on at least the good all the students that I talked to and including my kids Knew that like this person was not You know was was was being a little extra in the classroom being inappropriate in the classroom I won't say that like they knew specifics of it But I would just say that like there was a lot of inappropriateness and in and with this individual so that predated Dr. Green's tenure as Superintended so using something that Predated her as well as like going all the way back to 2018 with the shooting at Reigns It just feels like you know from an outside view that These charges were somewhat an excuse to push forward an agenda Well, you know this spring a number the people who supported dr. Green Just from the observations that I had sitting in school board meetings Were a multi-generational Multiracial multicultural background of people who believe that she was doing fantastic work for Duval schools You know, it was everyone from the NAACP to Organizations that were trying to curb gun violence To pastors who supported her Even former congresswoman Corrine Brown came into the school board and I think she said out of a one to ten scale that dr Green deserved a ten plus was one of the few times I saw a bit of a chuckle from dr. Green About that conversation, you know, there are obviously others who had criticism some of which were about keeping children safe about Douglas Anderson and and some of the complainants had took issue with the perceived lack of transparency from the district from a financial perspective Yes, not to say like everything that I was saying is not is not to say that like there weren't valid critiques. I'm just saying that pinning Teacher misconduct that's been going on for years to a superintendent and making that the reason Seems like there has to be other things that were involved in it other other issues that people had that that I don't know Like I people haven't spoken to You know, there hasn't I'm putting you in a tough spot Because because that like there as a reporter there are things that you Know in facts that you can back up and then things that are unknown And things that you cannot back up factually and here at WJC T We deal in facts and not in a new window and all that I'm merely saying So I'm not so I'm not asking you to to comment on Rumors, I'm merely saying or asking What are the concrete things that have been pointed to as to why she was pushed out? I Mean really the the Douglas Anderson situation was was really white You know led four members of the school board Because it was four to three vote that that got rid of that that led to dr. Green The led to school deciding to leave right accepting her her retirement after five years You know, she she has not finished working. She's now the CEO of the children's literacy initiative But I've heard from people in town. She's still been in town Over the last few weeks over the last few months Doing big things So but the Douglas Anderson situation really seems to have been a tipping point the tipping point Yeah, and would it be safe to say that the four members of the school board that Had issue with dr. Green that they are in line with governor DeSantis's Way of thinking as far as education is concerned. No, no one of the people who did Approve one of the four the current chair dr. Kelly Coker, you know, it's probably stated like she's on the figurative To defeat list of school board members That that has floated out there throughout the state Of school board members from a variety of districts who are coming up for election or re-election in 2024 and and Coker has expressed a bit of pride that she is on that On that list of people to defeat and we've got a comment from Tom on Facebook He says with the growing influence of mom's for liberty with with the growing influence of mom's for liberty We need a superintendent that will stand up for their teachers. Dr. Green just sacrificed Dedicated an innovative teacher Amy Dinofrio, excuse me when there was a backlash against her empowering students During the name change process at their school I do know a little bit about about this because this was a story that I've reported many many years ago about the change from Nathan Bedford forest high school into oh no, excuse me. This was the lease Lee high school Yes, this was the change of Lee high school into Riverside high school, correct and if I remember correctly The teacher in question was really advocating for the kids to have a voice and and speak out against this Yes, and I think she had like a black lives matter flag in the classroom and That was apparently a problem Yeah, and I think if I recall correctly again again Claire Hiddleston some fantastic reporting for us at WJCT about it But I want to say that after the flag was unfurled in the classroom And she accepted a settlement from the district and everyone's kind of kept it moving. Yeah, and we're gonna go to the phones We've got Elizabeth on the west side Elizabeth, how are you this morning? Good morning? I'm doing well. How are you guys good? I'm actually over on the inner coastal west. I'm calling because I think that this whole situation around dr. Green is just tragic You know, I think she's been she was a great champion for our schools and our students and When you bring divisive politics like mom's for liberty has done on our school board You see these agendas move forward without regard for our local Voice our local control and the wishes of the community We've already seen we just were just passed restorative justice program And one of the board members went to the Department of Education to try to get that program Investigated and it's not the will of our community the things that they're doing I'm part of a group called public school defenders and we're working really hard to make sure that our public schools are Protected and that the community knows the truth about what's happening It would be some which haunt political agendas going on Elizabeth, thank you so much for calling in in your comment Well Who on the school board is aligned with mom's for liberty? Well, we're confident that April Carney is is one who was elected to the school board with a strong assist From from mom's for liberty Mom's for liberty has said that they are a Organization that advocates on on behalf of children And they say that they they put children first that is what they say I think last week when Governor DeSantis was here in Jacksonville. They were to discuss COVID policies and and You know not having the government force people into Taking COVID vaccines including the new vaccine. It's interesting that they don't want to force people into taking the COVID vaccine But they do want to force people to not be able to read certain books. It's sort of like we can We don't want To be forced to do this but yet we want to force you to do that, right? Like it's it's Holding the two things together like it just at times doesn't make sense, you know I saw someone at the Governor DeSantis events one week ago with a t-shirt a navy t-shirt that said my body my child my choice my rights That that is their perspective as a parent I Mean I I don't hide the fact that I'm the parent of a Duvall County Public School child Or Duvall County Public School students In that helps inform my reporting I don't I don't editorialize at all, but I'm on Duvall County Public School campuses all the time either as a parent You know students at my child school don't know me as a reporter. They know me as so-and-so's dad. Yeah So people are entitled to their perspective, but April Carney is definitely one who is Has ties to mom's for liberty there I Think it'd be unfair for me as a reporter say that there are others who are connected with mom's for liberty Because I don't know with hundred percent certainty. Sure, but I'm confident about Board member Carney's connections. Yeah organization So what's going on with the the hunt the the search for and actually before I do that Let me just say that you listeners can call in and join this conversation You can call us at 5492937 you can tweet us at FCC on air first coast connected WJCT dot org And you can hit us up on Facebook or Instagram And I was just asking you will So what exactly is going on with the hunt for a superintendent? So the superintendent if you'd like to be the superintendent of Duvall County Public Schools. No, sir There's I know sir to me either But the Apple applications are open tomorrow They open tomorrow and will be open until October 13th The Florida School Board Association is is facilitating the search on behalf of the school board They have told the school board members that they will not filter anyone. So if you're a first-year English language arts teacher who thinks you can be the superintendent of schools and you apply and you fit all the credit And you fit a complete an application. It will be submitted to the school board Will you probably get the position almost assuredly not? But you know that we we do have a list of The qualifications the the minimum qualifications and the preferred qualifications on our website jack today org I think for those of those of you who who followed FCC on air on Twitter. There's a photo that that was placed this morning That's actually a school board member holding up the qualifications during Tuesday's board workshop So if you zoom in on that picture, you can read every single word of the qualifications that they're looking for in the next superintendent I am 100% sure that I am not qualified It would not want that job for anything at all. Oh my goodness. No, no, no, no All right, so we're gonna go to the phones. We've got Stanley on the north side Stanley my friend. How are you this morning? Man, I'm doing fantastic and hello to everybody involved My first concern of I won't send prompt side to dr. Green For the city of Jacksonville in justice They did miss green wrong Okay, number two, I Want to know why when we're gonna take politics out of education? You're doing a disservice to the students the all the students Do you want to have in a hard time just dealing with their parents? They don't need to be dealing with all this going on in these schools in the school system, sorry about that and this This This politics need to go. Thank you Thank you Stanley. I think I don't I don't think politics are ever gonna get out of schools I think when you look at The history of the United States of America I mean some of our biggest Supreme Court cases around race and segregation and desegregation all of that stem from the the the schoolhouse from education and I think that education is is I Hear what you're saying Stanley. I Wish that could be true that we could take politics out of Schools, but history tells me that that's not gonna happen and that actually like where we are right now our school grounds our battleground for many different I Don't know I kind of don't like the term culture war Because it it makes it sound like the culture is not as important as politics, you know, it seems like an offshoot But it's actually Fully a part of the main, you know, political clash But we can see that like the those wars are playing out here with with groups like Moms for Liberty and groups that oppose Moms for Liberty We we see all across the country last couple years when it came to co vid like that It was the number one, you know, the first battleground about Masking and all those type of things. So so yeah, I totally hear Hear what you're saying, but I don't think that that's gonna change in any time soon And we've got a caller on the line, I think It's not coming through yet But if you want to join the conversation you can call in at 5492937 you can tweet us at FCC on air first goes connected Wjct.org and the caller is here. We've got Philip on the west side Philip. How are you this morning? Philip you there? Philip Philip Philip. All right, so Phillips not there if you Call back we will get you on So will when it comes to the hunt for a superintendent Are there any Candidates that we know that are gonna apply people that we would know that that are gonna apply. I wish I could say yes But it was a bit of a amusing moment at least to me during Tuesday's board workshop When the school board members noted that, you know, people will ask about who will apply for this position Once they start applying and I nodded vociferously and and let them know, of course, I will be sending in a public records request. It's Yeah, it's a guarantee. I mean is my name brown am I tall? Yes, I can affirm that your name is brown for listeners who don't know he is tall So I will be sitting in a public records request. Um, probably multiple times a week So I do not know who will apply but that was one of the concerns Initially of the board that they did not want to become a Broward County 2.0 and what's happened down in Broward County is their superintendent left and It's the board tried to open up the superintendent search and they did not get the quality of candidates that they were expecting and that led to You know Broward the Broward school board They eventually found a superintendent, but the process was longer and more convoluted than they initially thought The Duvall school board was cognizant of that and so one read those one reason why they some members of the board I think Warren Jones was one and I think Charlotte Joyce was another Who this week were looking to see if maybe they could slow down the search a little bit So they could get a candidate to come in at the end of the year instead of coming in mid-year But you know Tuesday's workshop wasn't something where they could take action But they did come to the consensus that they wanted to keep the timeline that that was established earlier and had been communicated to the community that The news, you know, the applications will be open until mid-October They'll select some find semi finalists in October the finalists will be here in Jacksonville if the timeline stays as currently indicated the second weekend in Jackson excuse me the November 16th and 17th and then You know, I hope no one's going out of town for Thanksgiving because the new superintendent may be selected on Tuesday November 21st Which is two days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Yeah, and we've got a comment on Facebook. It's thank you for the conversation Alan will elections matter and there are potential there could potentially be six of the seven board seats on the ballot next year Is that accurate? There is oh, I want to say there's a lawsuit that's that's being adjudicated at the moment about whether in terms of the maps redistricting maps again elections matter Yeah, that that that part of the comment is 100% elections matter. Yes. The part I'm asking is about like our Sixers six of the seven chairs my understanding is four are definitely going to be up for reelection And the two others depending on some lawsuits may also be up for reelection depending on how how that goes So it's possible that six of the seven are up, but my understanding is four definitely are. Yeah, I think the the The thing that like We haven't really the person that we haven't really talked about a whole lot in this conversation That kind of looms over it all is Governor DeSantis and his willingness to actually get involved in school boards which feels I Don't know. I don't I Reporting in Jacksonville for the last 15 years. I don't remember that Actually happening with the governor before being as active as DeSantis has been throughout the state with with with school boards and also with the you know his mandates with education with his you know his don't say gay and his Laws around or his you know edicts around COVID all of that type of stuff like he's very involved in it and Also like the changing of the standards of like what can be taught in schools and so forth and so on it's a lot And it feels like all of those things puts The profession of teaching in the state of Florida in a very precarious situation And I'm wondering if if we're seeing that across the board. Well, I talked to teachers throughout the region Most of them just are so we'll say well, this is off the record like come on And they will tell me that the teaching profession has been made more challenging in recent years And this isn't just you know people who lean on the liberal side of the perspective This is people who are conservative as well. We're like, yeah, it's it's more challenging Because there's been so much So many people trying to put their thumb on the scale in terms of what is taught or what can be taught What's allowed to be taught? So it's you know, and it's not just It's not just educators in the Duval district. I I go a lot of different places and and we'll hear from educators and and Just cut usually it's like a ride shake of the head of like. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot tougher now Hmm, excuse me I wonder if people who Have the same type of qualifications as dr. Green Nationally look at like what's happening in Florida as a concerns Education and maybe would think twice about coming to Florida because of of the political unrest well, that's what Happened in Broward County and that's what the Duval district was concerned about was that they weren't getting the The applicants that they thought they might now granite dr. Green and the last two superintendents of the Full-time superintendents have been in-state superintendents dr. Green came from Manatee County and dr. VD came up from Miami-Dade So But also here's the thing a number of the the bigger districts because the school board has indicated They want someone who has experience with at least 25 in a district with at least 25,000 students As well as some in experience in their career of working in rural urban and rural Excuse me for all urban and suburban Settings They're not a whole lot of districts in this state that have those qualifications that don't have a new superintendent the number of Appointed superintendents in this state that has turned over over the last two and a half years is More than a dozen. Yeah, all right We're gonna go to the phones and Philip from the west side is here Philip. How you doing this morning? very good, I wanted to comment on What the caller said about taking politics out of the education system and To state that the reason why the Santas and his legislature have politics in it is they want to keep people dumb enough to vote Republican and on a more important note Teachers know when students are failing to let a student fail Is deplorable What we need to be doing is making retired teachers tutors To help these students to keep them from failing because a failing student is a failing society All right, Philip. Thank you so much for your call and comment. We also have a comment on facebook parental rights It's from lisa on facebook parental rights as fermented by the santas is a misnomer It only applies to a fringe minority of extreme far-right groups like moms for liberty And the whites of premises whom they align those who want full quality education for our children Which prepares them to be competitive in the world and to be able to coexist with others who are different from them We are a majority and our rights have been denied in service to political pandering To ignorance racism and bigotry Um, and so that that comment is from lisa, uh lisa, I would uh just Refer back to uh the earlier comment, um from kate, which said elections matter You know And you know, I've I've spoken in professional and personal capacities with a number of PTA presidents, um in in duval county. I spoke with one last week Um and we should we we should do the disclaimer here though. We should do the disclaimer That your wife is a pta president. She is. Um Um, yes, I am married to a pta president. Um, she she does a lot for for our child's school. Um You know, uh, but the person I spoke with was not my wife about this. Um, it was last week at a superintendent search Uh community meeting at reins high school, uh the pta president of a north side elementary school Uh, you know told me that You know, some of the she really started to get really more involved in her child's school because she saw Quote policies that are race related that our legislature and governor are doing close quotes Those were her words. Yeah so, you know When it comes to this, uh, uh subject, um It it feels like, uh, what parents seem to do is get active and involved Yes, um, and and and make sure that their voice is heard not just, uh in the, uh, ballot booth But in any conversations that are going on in the school Uh and around like, you know, if you don't like the direction that the schools are going in the only way that it changes Is if you show up and you show your power for either side, whatever your belief is because, uh, it it seems pretty clear that, um One side of the argument, uh is showing up and is making changes Uh, and if you don't go out and make your voice heard, um Then change will happen and you'll be left behind and not not actually be able to affect that change Got to be in it to to to actually make change and that is what that parent told me, um When when I spoke with her last week, you know, she said, you know, I can't I can't sit on the sidelines I want to be involved right on will brown reporter for jacksonville today and my friend. Thank you so much for coming in today Thank you for having me