SCHOOL BOARD COULD PUT THE
QUESTION ON THE BALLOT NEXT
YEAR AND, IF IT PASSES, IT WOULD
INTO EFFECT IN 2012
YES, SUCH A REFERENDUM HAS
FAILED IN THE PAST— BUT THE
TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’
by Dennis Reeves Cooper
If there was ever a time
for Monroe County voters to
reconsider the idea of changing
the position of school superintendent
to a position appointed
by the school board— rather
than an elected position— this
is that time. We use the term
“reconsider” because county
voters have considered changing
the position from elected to
appointed three times over the
years— and they have rejected
the idea all three times.
The last time was in 2004,
when almost 70 percent of the
voters said that they wanted
to continue to elect the school
superintendent, rather than
have him or her appointed by
the school board.
But the times they are achangin’.
The year 2004 was also the
year that Randy Acevedo was
elected superintendent the first
time. He defeated John Padget,
who had been appointed by
then-Governor Jeb Bush in 2003
to serve out the term of Mike
Lannon, who had resigned to
take a higher-paying job somewhere
else.
Who could have imagined
in 2004 that, six years later, Acevedo
would have been arrested
for allegedly trying to cover
up the alleged thievery of his
wife— who had been promoted
into a high-level position in
the school district, possibly
illegally, by her husband, the
superintendent?
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