Seminole mother sues school board
A Seminole County mother has sued the Seminole County School Board over its superintendent search, arguing its flip-flopping on who to hire violated its own rules and unfairly deprived a Lake County administrator of the county’s top school job.
Brittany Walker, a host on a local radio show that describes itself as “fearless and conservative,” filed the lawsuit Thursday. She had been active on Facebook urging the school board not to hire Serita Beamon, whom it tapped for the job Monday.
Last month the board voted to hire Chad Farnsworth. It rescinded that decision two weeks later and this week voted for Beamon.
“We cannot allow Seminole Co to put a DEMOCRAT in the School Board Superintendent seat! PARENTS WE NEED YOUR VOICE RIGHT NOW!!!” Walker posted on Feb. 24.
“Chad Farnsworth should file racial discrimination lawsuit against Seminole County School Board immediately,” she posted Tuesday.
Beamon, who has been the board’s attorney, is Black, and Farnsworth is white.
The lawsuit, filed in Seminole County Circuit Court, seeks an injunction that would stop the school board from signing
a contract with Beamon, which officials had said could happen as early as next week.
Philip Kaprow, a lawyer who lives in Winter Springs, is Walker’s attorney. He spoke at two recent school board meetings, urging the board to stick with Farnsworth as Superintendent Walt Griffin’s replacement.
The board’s votes on Feb. 9, Feb. 23, and Monday all were decided 3-2. Board member Tina Calderone, who first supported Farnsworth and then Beamon, served as the swing vote.
The lawsuit says the board should be negotiating with Farnsworth or at least halt its negotiations with Beamon until a judge reviews the matter. It argues that the Feb. 23 vote to rescind Farnsworth’s selection violated Robert’s Rules of Order, the procedures that govern how board meetings are run.
Those rules do not allow a school board to rescind a vote to hire someone after that person is notified of its decision, Kaprow said.
The lawsuit accuses Griffin, who is retiring this spring, of having “politicked, machinated and actively pressured one or more members of the school board” to reconsider their Feb. 9 decision.
A spokesman for the school district said administrators would not comment on pending litigation.
Board members and school employees who spoke in favor of Beamon at Monday’s meeting noted she had the support of Griffin and his top administrators.
The school district began its search for a new superintendent in the fall, with a committee appointed by the school board reviewing the 26 applications it received. The committee recommended the board consider five applicants as finalists and from that group, the board decided to interview Farnsworth and Beamon.
The board’s selection process became steeped in controversy last month, however, with the race and qualifications of the candidates debated, and board members unable to reach a consensus.
Farnsworth is now an assistant superintendent for Lake County Schools. Beamon, who has worked for Seminole schools legal department for 16 years, is the first woman and the first Black person selected as superintendent of the A-rated school district.
Board members described both finalists as top-notch, but some preferred that Farnsworth was an educator, with a still active teaching certificate, who’d been a classroom teacher, assistant principal and superintendent in the tiny Bradford County school district and also a top administrator in Lake for the past three years.
Others said Beamon had been deeply involved in top-level school district decisions was years and though not an educator knew Seminole schools and was well poised to keep the high-performing district on track.
School boards are non-partisan in Florida, and the political affiliations of the finalists were not mentioned in the board discussions. Beamon is a Democrat, and Farnsworth is not registered with a party.
The lawsuit noted that Beamon resigned her position a week after Farnsworth was tapped for the job, though she planned to work until the end of April. Beamon did not attend the Feb. 23 meeting, and another attorney in the district’s legal department provided the board advice on rescinding its Feb. 9 vote. The lawsuit argues the advice was incorrect.
At Monday’s meeting, some residents who wanted the board to stick with Farnsworth complained that Beamon had quit.
Kaprow, the attorney, was one of them. “She didn’t get her way. She quit. That has to weigh heavily with you,” he told the board on Monday.
Board member Amy Pennock, who voted for Farnsworth both times, suggested that bothered her. But others said Beamon’s initial resignation was a professional courtesy to give Farnsworth and the board a chance to pick a new attorney if they wanted and fit with her stated goals to seek a leadership position, even if not tapped for superintendent.
In her letter, Beamon wrote, “Words are insufficient to express how much I have treasured being a part of the executive team that made Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS) a premier school district.”