Duval County has had 12 school superintendents in the past 50 years, an average of little more than four years in office.
Superintendent Diana Greene will exit after five years, so she lasted longer than most.
Just last year, the board extended Greene’s contract and gave her a raise in pay.
What ended Greene’s stay was the situation involving a teacher at Douglas Anderson School for the Arts, who is accused of lewd and lascivious behavior.
The school district was slow to report the many complaints about the teacher to the state and Greene, who was at the top of the bureaucratic pyramid, was blamed, although she said she was shocked and angry to find out about the lapse.
Greene already was in a phased retirement so obviously did not plan to stay forever.
But she accomplished the job she seemed to have been hired to perform. As head of the school district in Manatee County, things did not always go smoothly but she led an effort to increase taxes that was successful. After coming here, she also was instrumental in getting both sales taxes and property taxes increased.
But she also presided at a time when disastrous “woke” policies crept into the local system. Boys were allowed into girl’s bathrooms and the district had a policy of concealing from parents the fact that their children were suffering from gender identity disorder.
Such policies caused a huge backlash from parents and a realignment by voters that made the School Board a little less liberal.
At the recent meeting where the School Board accepted Greene’s resignation, many of those parents spoke in support of a new rule to reverse the bathroom policy. Some also voiced concerns that the Anderson school incident may not be the only one in the district and that more investigation should be done.
Another disturbing thing that occurred during Greene’s term was a statewide grand jury report severely criticizing the district’s police for not properly reporting school incidents to the state government. The school police chief resigned.
That is further evidence that any investigation should not be done by the school police. In fact, the policing of schools should be returned to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which had that duty before the schools took it over.
The school police chief is not elected and neither is the superintendent. The sheriff is elected and responsible to the public — and that is as it should be.
The board should continue its reforms by returning police duties to the Sheriff’s Office, where they belong.
