By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Superintendent Addison Davis is set to leave the Hillsborough County school district the same way he stepped in, with all sorts of historical significance to consider, as financial concerns, divisive politics, sweeping legislative changes, a louder and more vocal populace, teacher and staff shortages and new school boundary assignments mark for his successor the start of the new school year.
The school board at a June 20 meeting was set to discuss plans for hiring Davis’ replacement. His resignation letter, dated June 15, notes his last day of work, July 14. Students return to school Aug. 10.
Superintendent Addison Davis takes time for a student at the dedication of Belmont Elementary School in April 2021, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Calling his resignation “one of the most difficult decisions that I have ever had to make,” Davis in his June 15 resignation letter self-attested to more than 40 accomplishments in his roughly three-year tenure. He said he now has “the opportunity to return to northeast Florida where my entire family resides,” and where he once served as chief of schools for Duval County Public Schools.
Davis came to Hillsborough from his job as superintendent in Clay County, which neighbors Duval, where Davis in his 18-year career there rose to chief of schools. The search is on to replace Duval superintendent Diana Greene, who left in May, less than a year after her contract was extended. It’s generally believed that Davis has an interest in that job.
Meanwhile, Davis’ final day in Hillsborough is July 14, which comes 41 months after his appointment was heralded as a break with tradition, as noted by Melissa Snively, then the school board chair. “Today we are poised to hire our new superintendent, from outside the district for the first time in 50 years,” Snively said, at the February 18, 2020, board meeting. “It’s truly an historic day.”
Addison Davis, shown on screen, as Hillsborough County school board members announced Jan. 21, 2020, that he was their pick to succeed school superintendent Jeff Eakins. The official appointment came a month later.
Moreover, Davis’ last day comes roughly one year after he received an extension to his Hillsborough contract, which wasn’t set to expire until July 2023. At the June 21, 2022, school board meeting, school board member Henry “Shake” Washington said “stability” was key to his decision to approve the early contract extension.
School board member Lynn Gray issued a similar sentiment. “If you want someone to stay in town and you want our children to have a lineage of succession of administrators and of teachers, you remove the leader and all of a sudden a lot of this will crumble,” she said.
For sure, Hillsborough has a history of hiring from within. Davis succeeded Jeff Eakins, a 31-year district employee, whose contract ended June 30, 2020. Eakins in turn succeeded Mary Ellen Elia, also an inside hire, and the first woman to hold the job as superintendent. Hired in 1986 as a reading resource teacher at Plant High, Elia succeeded Earl J. Lennard as superintendent in 2005. She was terminated in January 2015 due in part to conflicts with the board.
A graduate of Brandon High and a member of the University of South Florida’s inaugural class, Lennard entered the Hillsborough County school district as a first-grader at Palm River Elementary and left almost 60 years later as its superintendent of schools, a position he held from 1996 to 2005.
Lennard succeeded Walter L. Sickles, who before his appointment served for years under Raymond O. Shelton, the second appointed superintendent in Hillsborough County. The first was Cal J. Craig, who followed Jay Crockett Farnell, the last-elected Hillsborough superintendent, who served in that position for 17 years. Gov. Hayden Burns appointed Craig to serve as superintendent of schools from 1966-67.
Who next to be appointed is yet to be determined, as Davis makes the three-hour drive from Hillsborough County back to Clay, where property records show he and his wife became owners of a home in August 2022.
One thing is certain, superintendent searches in Florida are anything but easy, which is what Duval County school board members heard at their June 14 superintendent search workshop, in a conversation with Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.
Since 2020, Messina said, 24 of the 29 school districts in Florida that appoint superintendents have named new superintendents, an unprecedented (and astounding) number. Moreover, she showed a map June 14 that highlights six counties with current searches; this didn’t include Hillsborough, whose superintendent would announce his resignation a day later.
But Messina’s map did include Sarasota, which announced June 14 that the job was going to Terry Connor, who, like Davis, forged his career in Duval and Clay counties and came to Hillsborough as a Davis hire in 2020. He leaves the school district as its deputy superintendent and chief academic officer.
Superintendent Addison Davis, left, with past superintendent Jeff Eakins and past school board chair Melissa Snively. They’re pictured at the Jan. 21, 2020, school board meeting, after Davis was named to replace Eakins. The official appointment was made Feb. 18, 2020.
Connor reportedly was a finalist for the superintendent position in Osceola County, where school officials June 13 announced Mark Shanoff would replace Debra Pace, who announced her retirement in December.
Messina said also in the search for superintendents are Broward, set to hire soon; Alachua, set to begin its search in January; Flagler, set to start its search this month; and Escambia, which currently is run by Keith Leonard, interim superintendent, replacing Tim Scott, who, reportedly, was surprised at a May 16 board meeting that he was being terminated.
Add to the list Hillsborough, which for the second time since 2019 is searching for a new superintendent, who, in turn, will become the county’s ninth superintendent in eight decades.