The heat and the humidity of a Florida summer have caught up with us for 2024. Hard at work, it is doing its job at weakening the glue that holds a decorative surface to the coarser material that lies underneath. That’s usually not pretty as there is a reason someone went to the bother of covering it up.

Something of the same seems to be happening to Duval County’s latest superintendent choice, Dr. Christopher Bernier, whose resume includes stints in Lee County, FL and Clark County, NV.

I’m not going to summarize the saga that underlies the whistleblower complaint that has come to light in recent days. If you are reading this post, it is 99% certain that you already know. Every day, every hour brings a new revelation including an email to the DCPS School Board in late April.

It’s hard to judge in these circumstances because there is much we don’t know, the investigation is ongoing, there is a chance the complaint is unwarranted (doubtful, but still a chance,) and DCPS board members reported during the decision meeting that they had spoken to persons in Lee County, although they said nothing about a complaint and investigation.

Even so, the caution many in our community are urging upon the School Board is merited and should be heeded, specifically, to slow down or suspend the contract negotiations until Lee County completes its investigation and the results are known.

This controversy reminds me of another Duval County superintendent from 20 years ago, Joseph (Joey) Wise. Fun fact: he was the last non-Florida superintendent hired by the Board. Wise, a product of DCPS schools, returned to helm the district from the Christina (Wilmington,) Delaware school district.

He lasted 20 months. At the time of his hiring, there was great optimism. Indeed, the Board at that time was so wowed by his interview that they stopped their process and hired him on the spot.

If only they had waited to do the vetting. Among his Delaware sins, he was known for having people followed throughout the day to see what they were doing and where they were going. Even worse, he was, shall we say, loose with his bookkeeping practices. The district faced a shortfall in its reserves when he left and had to consider tax increases to recover.

He brought his shady budget practices to Jacksonville. The late Tommy Hazouri, then serving on the school board, kept a watchful eye on the finances and would question Wise about the district’s reports.

Worse, Wise began feuding with some of the Board members, in particular, Brenda Priestly-Jackson. He had her residence investigated and complained that she did not reside in the school district she represented. Worse, he wrote an open letter to her that he sent to the Florida Times-Union, in which he accused Ms. Jackson of not doing what’s best for children and demanded she resign.

Needless to say, he was swiftly terminated. Unfortunately, the Board did not negotiate a termination clause in his contract, for cause or without cause, and it cost the district $275,000 to buy him out. At the time, Tommy Hazouri uttered the classic sentence, “We made a mistake when we hired him, we won’t make a mistake when we fire him, and I hope that’s now.”

Is history repeating itself with Dr. Bernier?