I sure hope the voters in Clay County are paying attention to the chaos and controversy that is currently going on in Duval County between the school board and the public, and the appointed school superintendent. It has pretty much been the pattern for at least the last three Duval superintendents. They are appointed by the school board, almost immediately get a multi year contract extension, that has extremely generous provisions if they leave or are terminated before the contract extensions expire. They then start going their own way, pretty much ignoring and showing their contempt for the wishes of the people as well as the school board. They finally decide to leave, taking a huge severance package with them. Contrast this with what happens (or doesn't happen) in Clay. We elect our superintendent. He has a strictly defined contract, length as well as salary. He knows who he is responsible to - the voters - and our superintendents have generally paid attention to the people and the board. Those that haven't find themselves out of a job (with no severance package) at the next election. I hope we all remember this the next time a proposal comes up to appoint rather then elect our school superintendent. By the way, my use of "he" in this note, rather than the more PC "he or she" is for convenience, not to exclude women.