CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A new program in Clay County public schools aims at helping improve relations between the school board and the superintendent. It also aims at strengthening relationships between the community, the public and teachers.
Clay County Public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis is rolling out his "Elevate Clay" program, hoping to make positive changes in Clay County Schools.
“I think that now Clay County has a sense of hope, I've been learning as much as I can, and listening as much as I can, in order to create a robust plans for us to move forward, and a plan to improve teaching and learning in our school system,” Clay County public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis said.
Davis detailed those and other top priorities in his transition plan for the first 100 days with the goal of transforming the district of about 37,454 students into a premier school system in Florida. He described it as a blueprint intended to maintain and establish excellence.
“It's an opportunity for me to go into Clay County and better understand what's working and not working, and what we can do differently,” Davis said.
Davis said one of his biggest goals of his new plan is to change the “top-down” approach to working with employees.
“The biggest thing is to look at how we interact with an employee and create a culture of care,” David said. “I think that we have got to be working side by side (with) all of our employees instead of having a top-down approach, and really allowing them to have a discussion at the table in order to identify ways of moving forward.”
Davis said he wants to hear from any concerned community members about what he can do to make things better.
The first meeting took place Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Oakleaf High School. Officials said they look forward to the second meeting schedule for Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Keystone Heights Junior/Senior High School.
There will be additional public meetings through Feb. 21 at each of the county's high schools to discuss the plan with residents and get their feedback.