Alachua County School Board Member Kay Abbitt resigns to take leadership of charter school
Press release from Alachua County Public Schools
ALACHUA COUNTY, Fla. – Alachua County School Board member Kay Abbitt has resigned her seat on the Board. Her resignation takes effect immediately.
Abbitt, who was elected to the District 5 seat in 2022, has submitted a letter of resignation to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In it, she cites her temporary unpaid work as interim director of the Boulware Springs Charter School, whose previous director passed away unexpectedly in November. Abbitt founded the school with her daughter in 2013 and served as its director until her election to the School Board.
“I believe serving in the capacity of interim director may represent a conflict of interest,” Abbitt wrote. “I appreciate the opportunity that I have had to serve on the School Board of Alachua County.”
Under Florida Statute 114.04, “the Governor shall fill by appointment any vacancy in a state, district or county office…for the remainder of the term of an elective office, if there is less than 28 months remaining in the term.”
“I very much enjoyed working with Ms. Abbitt and certainly understand her reasons for not continuing her work as a Board member,” said Superintendent Dr. Kamela Patton. “I look forward to working with her replacement and maintaining the Board and district focus on providing a high-quality education to the students of Alachua County Public Schools.”
Smart choice and best of luck to Ms. Abbitt. There’s no fixing the dumpster fire we call public schooling so she might as well use her skills where they can make an actual difference.
Damn. The only smart one in the group.
Nice to see someone understands ethics
Mrs. Abbott carries such poise and class and I am honored to have had both of my boys attend her school. She was literally the only one who made sense on the board. I hope she will be able to serve once a permanent director is voted in.
Sorry to see her go. Of all the Board members, I believe she is the only one who cared about the children and their needs above the PC BS and politics.
Lmao at ” providing a quality education to Alachua county students”. So when does that start? This school board is about dividing this county by race. They don’t give a rat’s ass about these kids.
I hope the governor can find and appoint a strong, competent leader to replace her. Someone who shares his views on the Woke and DEI takeover of education in recent years, and will stand up for what’s truly best for the kids -getting the children of Alachua County an excellent academic education.
We regret the departure of the individual on the Board who had a deep understanding of the responsibilities: the children. It is unfortunate that the political agenda tends to overshadow everything in Alachua County. Although this position is meant to be nonpartisan, it is often perceived differently. I trust that the individual chosen by the governor to take over this role is well-prepared for the challenges ahead.
Kay has always been genuinely interested in the integrity and quality of our local public school system. She clearly knew that it was/is severely lacking and used her talents to start a public charter school that is extremely successful. Her expertise and well rounded student perspective will be so profoundly missed on this dumpster fire of a school board. This unfortunate event represents yet another significant setback for common sense and advocacy on behalf of ALL students within our community. Until this district gets a major reset, schools like Boulware Springs Charter School and The Frazer School will continue to take the best and brightest students and leave the ACPS system in the dust. I’m sick of voting for the One Mill for Schools and watching these morons continue to run things straight into the ground. Our kids, teachers, staff and community deserve so much better!
One Mill provides funding for music, art, libraries, media based programs and media, counselors and nurses. Not for any other school resource.
There is no rational justification for these services to rely on the approval of voters. Eventually, the community will reach a point where they will collectively decide to reject further support. What will be the consequence then? Will we eliminate these vital programs? This district has exhibited dysfunction for years, characterized by excessive salary expenditures for staff members who fail to perform and are simply reassigned to the district office rather than being sent packing. All programs, services, and salaries funded by the One Mill should be integrated into the standard SBAC budget. It is quite evident that a significant portion of the community is growing increasingly frustrated with the pervasive disorder and dysfunction that is consistently evident at every school board meeting.
Face Reality: She resigned in order to feed students towards private schools, i.e. her school. Students leaving the chaos and crime in AC Public Schools is a choice of safety for parents!
The students have been losing with the parent elected school board for 15 plus years in AC! Look at the past members! It has only gotten worse with the influence of the liberal majority in AC. It will not change anytime soon so if you value your children, send them to a private school if you must live in AC!
This current group (including the recently replaced McGraw) has only created perceived problem after problem for the past 15 years! No disciplinary action for the out of control assault, bullying, theft, classroom disruption, and on and on since when? 2015 or before?
Please force the current ACSB (SBAC) to resign now and save the students from the activism and criminal activity they currently face daily!