“Money well spent”: School Board approves $22,275 per month for interim Superintendent
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their November 6 meeting, the School Board of Alachua County agreed to pay $22,275 per month to Dr. Kamela Patton to serve as Superintendent while they search for a permanent Superintendent.
The board voted 5-0 on November 4 to hire Patton, and Board Attorney David Delaney and her representatives quickly worked up a draft contract based on previous contracts used by the district.
Contract details
The draft contract presented to the board covers the period from November 18, 2024, to June 30, 2025 but may be terminated “by mutual agreement between The Board and The Superintendent.”
The contract agreed to by the board will pay a base monthly salary of $19,500 (equivalent to a $234,000 annual salary), along with $2,000/month for temporary living expenses, $600/month as a car allowance, and a $175/month cell phone/technology allowance.
Upon separation from the district, she will receive 100% of accrued sick/personal leave and vacation days, which she will accrue at the same rate as 12-month administrative employees of the School Board; there is no provision for any other payment at the end of the contract. She will also be provided with a laptop and a copier/printer.
The contract does not provide disability insurance.
The draft contract published in the meeting agenda paid $800/month for the car allowance and up to $2,000 for Patton’s attorney fees and negotiations associated with the contract.
Certain: “She’s a skilled leader, so I do know we’re going to pay a premium for it.”
During discussion of the contract at Wednesday’s meeting, Member Tina Certain said, “I didn’t vote for us to be here because I wanted us to have an orderly search – so I just want to put that out there… But now that we’re here, I do think that landing Dr. Patton… is a huge upgrade. She’s a skilled leader, so I do know we’re going to pay a premium for it.” Certain said she looked at the state’s salary schedule for an elected Superintendent, around $203,000, and “was wondering if she would work for… half of that.” She also thought the car allowance was high, “but I’m not willing to just tank the deal for that.” Certain also wanted to ask Patton to “remove her attorney’s fee… I don’t want us to set a precedent of paying attorney fees for this type of endeavor.”
Board members referred to the contract throughout the meeting as lasting six months, but it covers seven and a half months.
Certain was also concerned about the clause regarding termination by mutual agreement: “I’m not thinking we would fire her, but I just think any contract that we enter into as a board – there has to be some kind of way for there to be an end to that… I’m always looking for an escape hatch for the district.”
Member Leanetta McNealy said she didn’t “blame [Patton] at all” for wanting a mutual agreement clause. “I don’t blame her, leaving her comfortable home in Collier County to come here, and if things didn’t go the way that we would want them to go, she could easily be removed… I think six months is short.” She said that if the district selects four or five finalists for the permanent Superintendent position and “we want the community to be inclusively involved, then that means we are going to need a lot of meetings, and I don’t see us getting everything done… in six months.”
McNealy added, “I liked the fact of her offer. We certainly cannot afford to pay what she was making, and we wouldn’t even look at that. But I’m sure that if we’re trying to bring in someone, it’s going to have to be what Attorney Delaney and Dr. Patton have already basically agreed on.” She agreed with removing the attorney fee, but she was fine with “the housing piece, her monthly salary, the phone, the car allowance.”
Base salary is $3,600/month higher than current Superintendent’s salary
Chair Diyonne McGraw said she had spoken with Patton, and Patton was “willing to take out… the attorney fees, and she has no problem with decreasing the automobile allowance to $600.” She said the base salary is $3,600/month more than what outgoing Superintendent Shane Andrew is making. McGraw added, “She’s excited about coming… She’s going to help move [the hiring] process along because she doesn’t want to be here forever.”
McGraw said the mutual agreement clause will protect Patton from getting stuck in a six-month lease if she is terminated after a few months.
Abbitt: “She has lots of experience, and I think it’ll be money well spent.”
Member Kay Abbitt said she was glad the attorney fees would be removed, adding, “I think her reputation precedes her… It was a 5-0 vote… I don’t think there are going to be any issues…. I’m fine with the salary… It’s $100,000 less than she was making as a Superintendent. She has lots of experience, and I think it’ll be money well spent.”
Member Sarah Rockwell agreed with removing the attorney fees and added, “I think Dr. Patton’s willingness to reduce the car allowance is a nice gesture to us. And I think that given her level of experience,… – this is a highly qualified individual, and I am otherwise comfortable with the contract.”
McGraw suggested adding an extension clause in case a new Superintendent hasn’t been hired by June 30.
The board will vote on the final contract at 5:00 p.m. on November 13.
OMG
And the voters rewarded them by approving an additional 1 mill tax.
What people do t understand is the 1 mil has nothing to do with this at all!
Maybe we should federalize education and have
Donald Trump,
musk, & Kennedy fix it and “make education great again!”
It can all be done with AI…
The humans and the “ it with face diaper” on the local school board are obsolete.
The cell phone is the
“New school”…
🎶. No more teachers, no more books, no more classrooms, durdy looks‼️🎶
And teachers cannot get a raise!!
“In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
-Mark Twain
The corruption is out of control in alachua county 😔
WHY?? TEACHER MAKING?? HOW MUCH
12 x 22,275 = 267,300.
That’s more than they were paying Mr. Andrew. More than they paid Carly “charlatan” Simon. More than they paid Karen Clark. Seems they don’t mind paying more for superintendents do they?
They seem to have forgotten, she wasn’t working as a superintendent when they hired her. She’s got great credentials, Superintendent of the Year, increased district scores, but she was removed by the Collier County School Board. Anyone else wonder why? Did the SBAC ask? Doesn’t the Board do background checks for district personnel? Should the parents know if they should have any concerns?
Certain board members continue to play the punt game by pretending they’re trying to save the district money. Sure they are, and I’ve got oceanfront property in Nebraska too.
Rockwell closed with, “I’m otherwise comfortable with the contract.” OF COURSE SHE IS – IT’S NOT HER MONEY SHE’S SPENDING!
On a side note – how’s that new teacher contract going?
What a greedy waste. Our children being taught by high school grads. Not even teachers with only a BS. More money saved to pay the school board.
What about your skilled teachers you refuse to give a raise to? She also made 100k more in a much larger, well run and managed school system.
This is just setting a precedent to pay your superintendent astronomical amounts and upset your staff and teachers even more.
“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” SBAC
It’s almost like all of the school board members are double agents working for the charter school industry. Our public school system is an ouroboros
She is getting paid over $200K / Year and still needs an additional $2K/month for housing allowance????
Teachers make less than 1/4 of her base salary and can’t afford a $2,000 / month apartment!
Something worth mentioning based on many of the prior comments is the current wages for teachers and their ongoing contract negotiations.
How long have the talks been going now? How much of a percentage raise are they asking for?
This board somehow finds, negotiates, and hires this new superintendent in what, a couple days? How much of a percentage raise over the prior superintendent’s pay is the new hire?
Another thing someone mentioned was that she wasn’t a sitting superintendent. The school board didn’t hire her or lure her from another county. This was a behind the curtain, out of the sunshine act. Now they want to get input and have a vote? Sounds familiar doesn’t it.
Are there benchmarks to perform miracles over a certain time? You might get volunteers to do the job a lot sooner.
Real teachers. Count me in.
>>”I think Dr. Patton’s willingness to reduce the car allowance is a nice gesture to us”
Sarah Rockwell is an imbecile who has clearly never worked in the real world.
Reducing the car allowance from $800 to $600 saves the district about $1600 over this contract, and they are paying her $167k+ for this 7.5 month term, plus however many sick & vacation days she cashes out which will be around $1,100k *each*.
She will accrue 1 sick day/month and 2 vacation days/month up to 10, so call it 16 days she will be able to cash out (probably more), or another $17k.
$1600 “savings” on $184k is about 0.9% of her compensation. A good investment to fleece the gullible morons on the ACSB.
“Oh but she’s a strong leader!” says the board. She is supposed to be gone in 7 months–what kind of impact do these mouthbreathers imagine she is going to have? She’s just soaking up almost $200k just to help them find another superintendent, which is supposed to be their job.
I don’t think Rockwell has ever worked.
Maybe putting on a mask if that’s considered work. She seems to be very consistent at that. Maybe she has a YouTube channel.
She has allergies? No. Mental illness…the nutter wears coordinating face diapers with her outfits.
It is extremely sad that they are doing this. Here we go– another ride on this endless merry-go-round of “acting” and “interim” Superintendents.
I don’t think I made much more than $22K my first year as a teacher in a high poverty school. I have been in them for the majority of my career.
Dear Board Members- teacher morale is very low. This has been going on too long. As we just saw, teachers and other school employees as well as other community members cast ballots.
And those teachers and others just reelected to of those mentally challenged board members.
Why do we need that board and what do they do? Desantis needs to centrally control all schools from Tallahassee…we are not reinventing the wheel here.
Just simulcast what a good school board does elsewhere
And simulcast it here will
Save taxpayer $!
Case solved and I did that for free…you don’t have to pay me $1,000,000 for that…
Your welcome.
Shaquonda: that’s a great idea‼️😃
Someone call Chuck Clemons and get him on that!
Chuck Clemons did a real good job getting the utility authority‼️
Clemons, Desantis , & Trump will make education great again!🇺🇸
I grew up in Bradford County/Starke & went to school in Clay County/Keystone Heights, we voted on superintendent there. Is this not what is done in alachua county???
This varies by county. Alachua County has an appointed Superintendent.
That needs to change!
Unfortunately it is not, but in this town it wouldn’t matter anyways!!
Wow! This SBAC needs to go! They all want the public, parents, teachers, and students to believe that they need one person to save the shi! Show they have created!
They could care less about the taxpayers money, the parents, teachers, and the students!
This is another smoke screen while they kick the can down the road and spend taxpayer money on BS projects such as the NEW REICHERT HOUSE and the Same old Taxpayer Fund leaches who want to “run it!” They must all be lining their pockets with “constituent payouts!”
Why is it necessary to pay lawyers in order to apply for a job? Sounds like a racket.
This is a horror show
If this wasteful group feels emboldened by the woke community’s recent passage of the mill tax , their decisions need State oversight. Please reach out to Governor and your representative. ACSB is clueless and out of control.
That vote astounded me. I did not think 76% of voters would approve the one mill for schools. Apparently voters of all stripes support it…no idea what they’re thinking…the absolute waste is so easy to see but yet more money is constantly awarded. Why would the school board do better when voters reward them for their failures?
What a slap on the face of all teachers! This is outrageous! She’s making as much as a medical doctor! This district is just so out of touch!
Can that position be replaced with AI?
I the SBAC are smarter than me but how about just letting an assistant Superintendent if there is one run the show until a new Superintendent is found.
Why well I’m sure this Temp hire is nor going to make changes, just coast and enjoy the pay.
A quarter million dollars a year salary while I experience rotting infrastructure, outrageous property taxes and on top of that, we have hundreds of high school ‘graduates’ who are functionally illiterate in math and English. Way to go.
Good job Alachua County School Board! This is why this position should be an elected position! The school
Board members had personal issues with the our superintendent so they fired him! Now they are spending over $22,000 a month until we can fill the position!
Get a grip Alachua County! Unfortunately this town is filled with democrats and their own agenda! It’s about time to get some republicans in the school system so things can be accomplished! Make America Great Again!
Terrible. 😢 I’m keeping my child home from here out!
And these IDIOTS are in charge of our schools?
What an INSULT to all the hard working teachers.
Another embarrassment for Alachua County. This board should be ashamed.
Board Member: “…with the cost of housing that I see in Alachua County, we better be ready to open our wallets.” I wish they felt this way about their school employees.
I agree! The only people SBAC has feelings for are at the District Administration level! Look at the outrageous salaries! The Superintendent and his staff can’t even draft a budget, or a strategic plan, a rezoning plan; how about a disciplinary plan?
Help is on the way . Trump and Elon will soon abolish Jimmy Carter’s failed DOE experiment. There will be plenty of funds at a State by State level for the turn around of raising the bar for a real education for all well behaved students. Embrace it or fight it and lose funding. Your choice.