School Board agrees to hire former Collier County Superintendent while national search is conducted
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the November 4 Special Meeting of the School Board of Alachua County, the board voted unanimously to hire Dr. Kamela Patton to serve as Superintendent while they conduct a national search for a new permanent Superintendent.
After deciding to hear citizen input after the nominations, Chair Diyonne McGraw introduced Andrea Messina from the Florida School Board Association, who had given the board a list of candidates to consider, and called on the board members for their nominations.
Nominations
Member Leanetta McNealy nominated Dr. Kamela “Kam” Patton from Collier County. Patton has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Messiah University in Pennsylvania, a Master of Science in Reading Education from Nova Southeastern University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Miami. She was Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools from 2011 to 2023 and currently runs an educational consulting company, along with co-leading the American Association of School Administrators’ Aspiring Superintendents Academy for Women. McNealy said Patton would be “a good fit for us and to handle the work that needs to be done, up until the search is complete.”
Member Kay Abbitt also recommended Patton and said, “What we don’t need is a placeholder, and she assured me that that’s not what she wants, either, and she feels like she can get a lot of procedures in place… She’s a go-getter.”
Member Sarah Rockwell agreed: “One of our biggest concerns right now is becoming more efficient with our limited resources so that our budget is very strong and solid and we can prioritize serving our children. And Dr. Patton has extensive experience with budgets much larger than ours… She has experience with a large budget, with a large staff, and with that kind of managerial responsibility.”
Member Tina Certain also said Patton was her choice: “I think she would serve us well, and during our interview and the questions that I asked her, I got the very distinct impression that her role here would be one that we desperately need at this particular juncture.”
McGraw similarly favored Patton: “I was really impressed with her… She has a lot of extensive – and she also will really work with the community… Big on academic achievement, big on CTE.”
Motion
Following citizen input, Certain made a motion to “move forward with Dr. Kamela Patton to serve as our Superintendent while we do a search” and give authorization for the Chair and the Board Attorney to negotiate with Dr. Patton and her representative. Rockwell seconded the motion.Â
McGraw wants the contract approved before her last day, Rockwell and Certain don’t want to rush
McGraw said the contract would be brought to the November 6 meeting, but Certain was concerned that board members wouldn’t have enough time to review it. McGraw said they would need to call another special meeting if they don’t approve it on Wednesday. Board Attorney David Delaney said he couldn’t commit to having it done by Wednesday without knowing Dr. Patton’s availability to work on it.
Certain suggested amending her motion to allow the Deputy Superintendent to serve as Acting Superintendent for a period not to exceed four weeks: “I don’t think this is something that we rush into agreeing on, something that consequential.” Her suggestion was not added to the motion.
McGraw said she wants the contract to be approved before she leaves the board on November 18 and that she hoped to have something for the board to review by Wednesday. Certain said that because of a medical procedure, she will not be available for more meetings this week or next week.
Certain repeated her concern that the board should not appear “that we’re rushing to get something done. I don’t think it’s necessary to be in a rush before [McGraw leaves the board], with all due respect… We’ve agreed on a person and the parameters and all of that.”
McGraw said she wanted the incoming Superintendent to have a chance to work with the outgoing Superintendent “as she’s transitioning in.”
Rockwell agreed with Certain that the board and the public need time to review a proposed contract before the board votes on it. She said she was fine with discussing a draft contract on Wednesday if it’s ready, but “I don’t think we need to rush a decision that’s this big.”
McGraw agreed that the board would only discuss the proposed contract on Wednesday (assuming it’s ready) but said she wanted to have a special meeting between November 7 and 17.
The motion to authorize negotiations with Dr. Patton passed unanimously.
She was ousted by Collier County in 2022. Liberals will say it was mutual agreement but the school board was already planning it. She is a big supporter of BLM and CRT based curriculum. Sorry ACSB is trying to continue the same dance.
Dr. Kamela Patton will fit their agenda perfectly. I will not be surprised if she became the permanent Superintendent.
Yet the Republican on the ACSB loves her too.
Wow, I would have taken the GIG for 500K, guess they found a basement dweller. I would be bargain, as my first executive order it would be to fire the ACSB, and dismantle any and every non productive, anti basic education department. You would be 10 million dollars ahead the first month. Well on our way to an A grade school system that this existing bunch can only dream of. Oh well, business as usual. Student education be famed.
Prov: changing superintendents every year to fix a broken county school system in a broken county makes about as much sense as betting on a new shooter in a crap game where you know the house is using loaded dice.
I just hope they don’t give away the farm. They need to remember, it’s TEMPORARY until a suitable and qualified candidate can be found and vetted properly.
The SBAC hasn’t been known for making good decisions of late.
A Carlee clone.Keep destroying public schools from within.
No part of this sounds the least bit pre-planned or orchestrated, wink wink nudge nudge say no more.
This is so sad… 24 years of teaching mean NOTHING.
Gainesville is a far cry from Naples. She may insist on it being a temporary position after she’s been here in the great mostly-lowbrow metropolis of Gangsville for a week or two. Her track record is actually pretty good, taking her district from 33rd to 5th.
Gainesville ranks 5th in Florida by educational levels. Collier County ranks 55th.
https://hdpulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/social/table?age=081&age_options=age25_1&demo=00004&demo_options=education_3&race=00&race_options=race_7&sex=0&sex_options=sexboth_1&socialtopic=020&socialtopic_options=social_6&statefips=12&statefips_options=area_states
Should be “Alachua County ranks 5th…”
Be careful, you brought facts to a comments section
Good. I hope they get it together and hire a qualified FT candidate who has the credentials (a bachelor’s degree is unacceptable) and experience. Alachua County used to have an incredible school system but the politics, poor judgment and divisiveness of today’s climate has ruined the public education system. Stop listening to these crazy book burning anti-everything folks and start putting the children first.
Yes Bob, I agree these anti- American, anti-freedom, anti-child, anti-parent, and anti-moral folks need to go. Years ago the schools ran fine when there was no CRT, no mask mandates, honor roll for good grades, no unicorn teachers trying to groom children, and the parents were informed and involved in decisions concerning their childern.
Never been incredible. Had to start IB programs to keep kids from going to private schools
In the end, the “national search” will be her.
If certain wants this person then I’d have to say no.
I thought you’d have to be insane to want to be Superintendent in this county, but then I saw that Kamela Patton got 20 weeks paid salary when she was ousted from the last job, in addition to all her sick leave and vacation pay.
At $308k per year, the 20 weeks alone was a $118k bonus! Each additional sick day and accrued vacation day was an additional $1k+.
Now she’s secured a sweet job in the dumbest county in the state, where she is guaranteed another $200k salary minimum, and in the end will no doubt get another 20 week / $80k payout when they fire her in 1-2 years. Being a superintendent might just be the best job in America.