Parents react to what’s next for DCPS superintendent role

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After agreeing to sever ties with superintendent Dr. Diana Greene, Duval County School Board members say the search for a new leader will take time. This comes after approving Dr. Greene’s separation agreement during an emergency meeting today.

“It’s very difficult to part ways with someone who had done well on behalf of students,” DCPS board member Lori Hershey said.

Dr. Diana Greene’s resignation comes two years before her contract was set to expire in 2025.

“There are a lot of parents, a lot of teachers, a lot of just different stakeholders who are demoralized because of how today’s meeting went down,” former teacher and DCPS parent Benjamin Dixon said.

Many parents were sounding off during public comment at tonight’s school board meeting.

“You cannot have Dr. Greene take this fall for something she did not do,” DCPS parent Robert Stafford said.

But others believe this is the right decision.

“We need to be searching for another that’s going to follow the rules and support the Duval County Public Schools as they should,” former DCPS parent Kimberly Patrick said.

Her early retirement stems from a third-party investigation in the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and concerns from the Florida Department of Education about a delay in reporting teacher misconduct.

“I sincerely hope this isn’t just a thing where they fire her or force her to resign, and make somebody a scapegoat and pretend like everything is going to be okay after this,” DCPS parent Justin Kugler said. “Because it’s not. This is clearly a systems failure.”

After celebrating Dr. Greene’s accomplishments, dr. Kelly Coker spoke about what’s next in the search for a new superintendent.

“We will talk about the next steps in engaging the community to ensure that we’re picking a leader who comes to us ready to refocus us on student achievement and the health and well-being of every child we serve,” Dr. Coker said.

Dr. Coker adds she’s had meetings with Greene about retirement before the state raised concerns about under-reporting teacher misconduct. She explains why this led her to vote in favor of the retirement agreement.

“When you retire from an organization that’s a two-billion-dollar enterprise with 13,000 employees, it’s not just, ‘Oh I’m going to retire on a date certain,’ there are a lot of things that have to happen,” Dr. Coker said.

But some board members disagree with the decision.

“Make no mistake she’s not retiring early, she’s been forced out,” DCPS school board member Darryl Willie said.

Now DCPS, like several other school districts across Florida, are looking for their next leader.

“With Dr. Greene’s retirement, we will join at least 20 other school districts statewide that have undertaken a search for a new superintendent since January 2020,” DCPS board member Cindy Pearson said.

Dr. Greene’s retirement date is July 24th, but her last day as a district employee will be June 2nd.

The future of the superintendent role will be discussed in an agenda committee and board workshop meeting on May 16th. Board members will discuss who will take the place of interim superintendent in this meeting.

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