I am writing in response to the Our Opinion article “Dr. Avossa’s Exit Leaves School District Leaderless…Again” from the Feb. 9 issue. Contrary to the title of the article, the school district is not leaderless. Dr. Robert Avossa provided four months’ advanced notice of his departure. His resignation is effective at the end of this school year. The school district is going to have the new superintendent hired by the end of March. How does that translate into the district being leaderless?
Palm Beach County is the eleventh-largest public school district in the United States. It is huge, and it is extremely diverse. The time commitment and stress associated with being at the helm of such a task is tremendous. Understanding that, I do not think one can truly know how much of a time commitment and how stressful it can be until one is in the role of superintendent. A fool would risk health and family for the sake of a job. Avossa clearly is not a fool. Something else that is foolish is for the author of the article to compare the job of being school district superintendent to that of being a head football coach.
As a teacher in the district and as the mother of two children in district schools, I have experienced first-hand the tremendous progress that has been made during Avossa’s tenure. The person who wrote this opinion article clearly is forming opinions solely based on biased media content. Avossa has already achieved many of his objectives. In addition, he created an environment in which there are people within the district who can be his replacement. There will be no “upheaval” as the author stated. I am confident Avossa’s replacement will continue his progress and that the transition will be smooth.
Alexandra Munley, Wellington
