Shane Andrew appointed to interim superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools

yahoo! | By Gershon Harrell, The Gainesville Sun | March 16, 2022

Shane Andrew was promoted Tuesday evening to interim superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools.

This comes after the termination of former Superintendent Carlee Simon, who lost the support of the majority of the school board after the appointment of a new board member, Mildred Russell, by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.

Andrew has served as principal for Eastside High School, Newberry High School, A.L. Mebane Middle School, and assistant principal for Hawthorne Middle/High School. Andrew was appointed to his role as chief of operations in June. He also once served as a substitute teacher for Gainesville High School.

“I’ve been driven to serve our entire community,” Andrew said Tuesday. I just look forward to the challenge and I look forward to working with students, parents, teachers. I think we have to bring some unity back to the community. And so I think that’s going to be a focus.” 

The decision to hire Andrew came on a 3-2 vote, with board members Russell and Gunnar Paulson in dissent. Both were also in favor of firing Simon. Deputy Superintendent Donna Jones has been working as acting superintendent for the past two weeks.

There were four other candidates up for the interim chief position, including Owen Roberts, the district’s former superintendent from 2014 to 2016. Roberts resigned from his role in controversy after The Gainesville Sun reported he plagiarized in his book.

Kathy Black, a retired administrator from the ESE department, Kevin Purvis, principal of Buchholz High School and Jones were also candidates.