Submitted Anonymously “A Public School Parent” 5/21/2025
As we close another school year, I find myself reflecting on the events that unfolded—both through personal experience and conversations with other parents and teachers. Across social media and within our communities, one theme continues to emerge: leadership’s consistent failure to acknowledge and address the real issues affecting our schools.
Whether it’s student safety, inadequate attention to IEPs and ESE programs, inconsistent discipline, crumbling teacher morale, or a lack of transparency and communication, the district’s response has been the same—silence, deflection, or outright dismissal.
Frankly, none of this should surprise anyone. This leadership has a well-documented history of ignoring the voices of parents, students, and teachers alike. While they claim to welcome engagement, they routinely shut down those who dare to raise concerns. In fact, our district’s School Board—unlike any other governing body—blocks taxpayers, parents, teachers, and students from commenting on their official Facebook page during board meetings. Public comments submitted via email aren’t read aloud for transparency; instead, they’re quietly “passed along” to board members, away from public scrutiny. This is not just tone-deafness—it’s suppression.
Time and again, we see policies and procedures selectively enforced. Leadership hides behind loopholes and exceptions, manipulating the rules to serve their own ends. We’ve watched the Superintendent disregard board directives, break commitments, or ask for forgiveness only after public backlash—only to repeat the same behavior. Even board members are beginning to realize they’ve been misled and manipulated for years.
During multiple election cycles, the Superintendent boasted about refusing a raise—as if that alone proved fiscal responsibility. Yet, following his final campaign, he quietly awarded himself a $42,000 pay increase. That matters because, under Florida’s retirement system, pensions are based on the average of the highest five years of salary. That timing isn’t accidental—it’s calculated. It begs the question: who else in the executive suite is planning a golden parachute on the public’s dime?
Meanwhile, we’re expected to forget all of this the next time he hosts a Second Harvest food drive—for the very LCS employees struggling to make ends meet under the district’s own oppressive pay structure. That one annual raise is double what many cafeteria staff earn in a year to feed and support their own families.
While district dollars flow into artificial turf, rebranding campaigns, executive perks, and bloated positions with inflated salaries, there’s somehow never enough left for bus drivers, support staff, veteran teachers, or student programs like IEP/ESE support or tutoring. Did you know 80% of the money parents pay for after-school care is taken by the district—away from the very schools that provide the service? Principals have pleaded to keep that money on campus, but leadership remains unmoved, unresponsive, and unaccountable.
And perhaps the most urgent concern—the one they refuse to talk about—is the escalating behavioral crisis in our schools. This year alone, teachers have been assaulted by students, and the number of arrests involving guns, drugs, and violent threats has risen sharply. These are not isolated incidents. The evidence is mounting, and the district can no longer deny the truth: our schools are becoming unsafe, and leadership is doing nothing meaningful to stop it.
I applaud the mother who recently spoke out at a board meeting about her son being assaulted—only to be punished for defending himself. I’ve heard too many stories like hers. Instead of addressing violence, the system tells victims to take the long way to class or ignore abuse. If you fight back to defend yourself, you’re the one who gets punished. As parents, we teach our children to stand up for themselves—to act with courage and conviction. But this district has created a culture that rewards silence, punishes resistance, and constantly ignores parents’ phone calls and emails. It’s backward and dangerous, but that’s the culture they have built.
And then there’s the hypocrisy. The district is quick to criticize charter and private schools for their failures, expansion, or funding models, yet turns a blind eye to its own decades-long record of failure. One district-run school failed for 66 consecutive years. Where was the outrage? Why is failure acceptable when it’s under their control? Because for this leadership, it’s not about outcomes—it’s about power and money.
Let’s be honest: their idea of a “world-class education” is one where they protect their pensions, preserve their influence, and lower the bar for everyone else. That’s why so many parents and teachers are walking away—because the district walked away from them first.
They’re not building a better school system. They’re running a masterclass in mismanagement with manipulation.
And we’re the ones paying the price.
On behalf of many who no longer feel heard and Who’s Had Enough,
A Public School Parent
I agree with every word of this. Our district is so plagued with corruption and incompetence that I have begged my daughter to not move back here with my grandchildren (which breaks my heart) – but I don’t want them in our schools.
Thank you, FLCapitalTea, for publishing my perspective as a parent. I’ve seen my words shared in many groups, and the support and affirmation it received has been uplifting and encouraging.
What I’ve found most telling, however, is the nature of pushbacks. Those who responded with condescending remarks rarely addressed the actual concerns I raised about our school district. Instead, they deflected, pointed fingers, or justified systemic failure by suggesting that because leadership above them failed, their own shortcomings are excusable. This mindset is deeply rooted in the culture that currently controls our local education system.
Some have said, “If it’s so bad, just leave the public school system.” But this oversimplifies a much deeper issue. In recent years, our district has lost more than $25 million annually as families have withdrawn their children not because they wanted to abandon public education, but because they felt pushed out by a system that refuses to listen to them. The financial fallout is so severe that the district stopped paying its fire assessment to the county now resulting in higher taxes for all of us.
My original statement was not an attack it was a warning. If we continue fostering a culture where the response to criticism is, “If you don’t like it, leave,” then yes, the system will collapse. Many parents don’t want to leave the public school system. But how long are we expected to sacrifice our children’s well-being and academic growth in the name of preserving a system that refuses to acknowledge or address its failures?
This week’s LCSB meeting further exemplified the very issues I raised. While board members spent time praising one another, far less attention was given to teachers, students, and parents. For instance, 77 students graduated high school with an Associate’s Degree from TSC, a major achievement, yet not all were individually recognized during the meeting.
Once again, the district attempted to push through a policy, this time concerning AI, without honoring the board’s prior request for more conversations and workshops. Teachers and administrators only received notice of the proposed policy the week before it was set to be passed during the last week of school, no less, when they are overwhelmed with graduations, final grades, and celebrating their students, not to mention their own children’s successes.
This is a culture that prioritizes control over collaboration, that pushes its agenda without consideration for those affected and ignores anyone who dares to question it.
We also saw a parent at the meeting forced to demand that the district correct a mistake that was jeopardizing his son’s education. Despite numerous emails and phone calls asking for help and guidance, all he received were dismissive responses: Not my job, Not my problem, I don’t know what to tell you or they didn’t even bother to respond at all. The district’s failure to communicate and take responsibility forces parents to take time off work, drive across town, and fight tooth and nail just to get basic support.
This is what the district calls “World Class Education” a system failing our children and families with zero accountability.
It’s time to stop applauding the status quo and start demanding the change our students, parents and teachers deserve.
On Behalf of many who no longer feel heard and Who’s Had Enough,
A Public School Parent
Just How Messed Up is “Messed Up”? A Look Inside the Latest Leon County School Board Meeting
In the latest episode of dysfunction within the Leon County District School Board, we’re once again witnessing troubling decisions, poor communication, and a lack of inclusive leadership. At the center of it all: questionable reclassification of positions with substantial pay increases, while pressing issues go unresolved.
Let’s begin with this. The Superintendent seems to be on a mission to reclassify every district position possible, each at a cost of $10,000. This latest batch is meant to reclassify and shift responsibilities he had originally taken on under the pretense of “saving money.” Yet, he awarded himself a $42,000 raise after the election, only to then relieve himself of those responsibilities. And no one on the board questions these actions?
These reclassifications are only making matters worse. When key roles are left unfilled and their duties pushed onto others, the result is overworked employees struggling to manage an impossible workload. This leads to mistakes, delays, and a system where important matters slip through the cracks. Let’s not forget the bus scheduling fiasco from years past, when the Superintendent assumed control of the bus system, resulting in one misstep after another.
I speak from personal experience. When serious issues arose at a school affecting my own child, we reached out to the district’s leadership for support. Our calls for help were ignored by every executive, including the Superintendent. When we asked for basic information on other matters, we were met with silence.
But let’s return to this week’s board meeting.
District insurance costs have jumped by $3.2 million this year. District salaries continue to climb, while school enrollment continues to decline. The Superintendent himself predicts a drop of 350 students due to an increasing number of parents pulling their children out of the system. Combine that with the 100+ students lost last year, and the district is looking at a $3.6 million loss in funding. He even admitted, “The financial pain is real.” Yet, despite this financial strain, executive staff continue to receive raises.
Furthermore, they discussed the potential of building new schools and purchasing land. Apparently, there is money for raises, land purchases, and new construction, even while some schools operate below capacity and there are no funds for teachers, support staff, bus drivers, or anyone actually on the front lines. Where is the accountability?
And there’s more.
The Superintendent is pushing for a costly potential lawsuit over a failed charter school, despite the district’s limited resources. Why? Perhaps to protect his ego. He failed to carry out proper oversight of the school, missing red flags such as extremely low attendance. The district serves as the primary sponsor and oversight entity for charter schools, responsible for monitoring and reviewing their progress to ensure they meet their goals, both financial and academic. Where was his oversight before the school closed? Had he fulfilled his responsibilities, this could’ve been addressed early on. But consistent with his past behavior, the Superintendent refuses to acknowledge or take responsibility for low enrollment trends across the district, perhaps because it reflects poorly on his leadership. Why was this lack of oversight not addressed by board members? Instead, they fixated on the furniture.
As the Superintendent attempted to push for approval to file legal documents, Board Member Alva Smith stood firm on a critical principle: legal matters requiring board approval must involve all members being present. Yet, the Superintendent continues to overreach, attempting to speak on behalf of absent members and push decisions through without full consensus. His leadership is beginning to resemble autocracy more than a collaborative effort involving stakeholders.
I commend Alva for standing up and calling out the real danger here: a Superintendent attempting to act on behalf of a board member who isn’t even present. It raises serious questions. What off-the-record conversations has he had with certain members? Who else might be getting manipulated behind the scenes? What information is he keeping from the board for them to have all the facts when making decisions?
During the meeting, Alva noted that any financial gains from winning the lawsuit could easily be outweighed by the cost of pursuing it, especially if the district lost and the charter school countersued. At that point, Dr. Nicholas realized he hadn’t been given all the facts, only what the Superintendent wanted him to see. As a result, Dr. Nicholas appeared to change his stance from the day before. Later, when confronted by Alva and Dr. Nicholas about the risk of a countersuit, the Superintendent casually admitted, “I felt we could win and didn’t think I needed to inform the board.”
And there it is, the core issue with the Superintendent’s leadership. He acts unilaterally, assumes he alone knows what’s best, and disregards the essential principles of transparency and board oversight.
Leon County deserves better. This isn’t just a leadership problem, it’s a crisis of trust and mismanagement.
On behalf of many who no longer feel heard and who’ve had enough,
A Public School Parent