Superintendent of Schools
Rocky Hanna is the current Superintendent of Schools in Leon County. He’s held this seat since 2016, when he resigned his post with the Leon County School District after 28 years.
Hanna is running against Star Swain, elementary school principal at Florida A&M University's Developmental Research School, in the Democratic primary. The winner will face Chiles High School principal Joe Burgess, the no-party-affiliate candidate, in November.
Below are some summarized points from the June 27th Candidate Forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Tallahassee, the Tallahassee Democrat, and WFSU Public Media.
What is the number one issue students are facing in Leon County Schools this election?
- Hanna: Academic regression coming out of the pandemic, along with mental health issues.
- Swain: Gap in academic learning due COVID, as well as economic disparities impacts students’ ability to catch up.
What makes you the best candidate for this seat over your opponent?
- Hanna: I’ve been with the school district for 36 years and have focused on centering students while making decisions. I have a degree in business, so I understand the finances of our operation, which is a $600 million budget.
- Swain: I have 21 years of experience in education and nine years of experience in leadership. I am an educator with passion, and I believe in putting children first and putting teaching and learning first.
How have universal vouchers and charter schools impacted the Leon County School District, and how do you compete going forward?
- Hanna: I've been very outspoken about what I consider to be reckless charter school expansion, and with vouchers going to private schools for the first time in history, we now see public tax dollars being diverted and siphoned off to fund public schools. That is the reason why we’ve developed a $100,000 marketing campaign to give parents a compelling reason to send their child to Leon County Schools.
- Swain: Those vouchers undoubtedly have impacted Leon County School District because of the increased funding that is going towards charter schools or private schools. I believe that we can respond to decreased enrollment by increasing the quality of education that we're providing for our students in every school and giving parents a better choice and letting them know that their kids want to be in public Leon County schools.
More than 1/3rd of Leon County School students missed 10% or more of their classroom time in the 2023 academic year. How can Leon County Schools reduce chronic absenteeism?
- Hanna: We've seen this issue get worse coming out of the pandemic. We have committed social workers to all of our middle and high schools to reach out to parents and families whose students are missing large numbers of days of school to try to find out why that is happening. We tried to tie grades to attendance in the past, which was determined to be illegal against Florida law. I think working with the Florida State Legislature to try to put some teeth into attendance could help address the absenteeism issue.
- Swain: I believe that we can reduce chronic absenteeism by becoming a little bit more involved in what's happening in our actual communities where the schools are located. It can't just be us working and trying to reach these families at the school location, but we also need to be in touch with what's happening with these families. We also need to make sure that principals and school leaders are providing accountability to parents, doing home visits if needed, for students that we haven't seen in a while, and that we're really putting forth the effort in making sure that students are present at school every day.