The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) spent nearly an hour of its more than four-hour meeting on Tuesday night discussing administrative reassignments within Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS). 

The discussion came about while the school board was presented, for consideration, the administrative annual contract renewals for the 2026-27 school year – an item separate from what was being discussed amongst the board. 

Vice Chair Leanetta McNealy said she and the other board members were flooded with emails from families, staff members and citizens who expressed concerns over the administrative changes. 

Some of these citizens also attended Tuesday’s meeting and shared their concerns during the public comment period. 

Elizabeth Rogers and Amanda Watson both have children who attend Parker Elementary School. They expressed concern over the decision to transfer the school’s current principal, who has been at Parker for more than 30 years. 

Rogers said the school is “entering a period of major transition.” She noted that much of the school’s administrative staff had just completed their first year. In addition to a fairly new staff, Rogers said Parker is expected to bring in new students, families and staff next school year because of ACPS’s right-sizing initiative. 

“I’m struggling to understand why the district would remove the one administrator who brings decades of institutional knowledge, established relationships and a deep understanding of Parker’s culture and needs,” Rogers said. “During times of significant change, experienced leadership provides stability and continuity for students, families and staff.” 

Watson shared a similar viewpoint to Rogers. 

“I also would like to ask for transparency and some of the reasons why a principal with over 30 years of experience at that particular school would have been selected as part of the mass movement of principals,” Watson said. “From a parent perspective, the optics aren’t really great for this particular change.” 

In a post on her candidate Facebook account on May 29, Board Member Janine Plavac said interim Superintendent Kamela Patton and ACPS staff had made more than 20 principal and assistant principal moves/non-renewals. 

During Tuesday’s meeting, Plavac said 11 principals were transferred to different schools, while only three spots needed to be accommodated. 

While not giving an exact number, Patton said Plavac was incorrect in that three principals had to move. She also said the number of principal and assistant principal moves that Plavac cited in her post was not accurate. 

Like the parents, Plavac also sought transparency regarding the decision behind the reassignments. She compiled a list of questions for Patton that would provide insight into the superintendent’s process for reassigning principals. 

Plavac’s questions pertained to student impact, performance evidence, alignment with needs, transparency and risk management. 

Plavac asked for a response to her questions at the board’s next meeting on June 16. 

“I think that for the public, if we have these questions answered on the day that we come back for our board meeting, we will feel better, the public will feel better, and everybody will understand that these questions have been addressed,” Plavac said. 

Board Member Sarah Rockwell said legally, “the decision-making authority for administrative assignments rests with the superintendent, not with the school board.” 

“We vote to approve those [administrative] appointments, but we are only allowed to object in case of good cause, which have been narrowly defined by state statute to be a situation where someone has engaged in extremely problematic behavior, does not have the credentials for the position that they’re being appointed to, that sort of thing,” she said. 

Rockwell explained that as a board member, she is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the district. She added that her primary responsibilities are approving policies and fiscal items, such as budgets. 

Rockwell said she must rely on the “expertise” of Patton and district staff when it comes to personnel decisions. 

Additionally, Rockwell also said there is a “level of transparency” that the SBAC “can provide on some things” that it can’t do on personnel matters. She added that it wouldn’t be fair to the administrators being moved to have those decisions and reasons for the changes made public. 

Like her colleague, Board Member Tina Certain said she was also deferring the administrative changes to Patton, adding she is not in the schools every day. 

“I really think we should trust the movement and recommendations that Dr. Patton has brought forward, so that staff can begin working on moving forward and getting ready for summer school, as well as opening up for fall,” Certain said. 

Plavac said she felt she still had the right to have her questions answered. 

“I am going to submit these [questions] to be answered, and I’m going to post them for the public to see, because I think they need to understand the rationale,” Plavac said. 

Patton addressed the reassignments later in the discussion. She cited specific reasons for the moves, including personal requests from principals, state laws, school closures and school conversions. 

Patton also noted the importance of placing higher performing principals in schools with the greatest needs. 

“We’ve been working on that,” she said. “We’re doing it again this year.” 

The board ultimately approved the administrative contract renewals in a unanimous vote. Deborah Terry, ACPS’s assistant superintendent for human resources, said the contracts are for “school-based and district-based administrators who serve in leadership positions throughout the district.” 

The SBAC is expected to vote on administrative reassignments at a future meeting. 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.