BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Camp Crystal Lake Director Scott Burton and his wife Holly have filed a lawsuit against the Alachua County School Board, former superintendent Carley Simon and a former assistant of Simon’s who is now running for school board.
The camp is located next to the Keystone Heights Airport and is owned by the Alachua County School District.
The lawsuit alleges that while superintendent, Simon and her assistant Prescott Cowels made false statements about Scott Burton, accusing him of financial mismanagement of the camp.
The complaint also asserts that Simon’s motivation for her false allegations against the camp director were Holly Burton’s opposition to Simon’s plans to build a new school in Hawthorne, replacing Shell Elementary School of which Holly Burton is the principal.
Superintendent’s email
Simon first publicly accused Scott Burton of fraud and financial mismanagement in a Nov. 5, 2021, email to board members.
In it she said the district improperly paid a monthly $182 Dish television service for Burton’s family, that Burton and his family lived within the camp rent free, and that a scholarship fund designed to assist financially disadvantaged campers was poorly managed. She also accused Burton of awarding gifts of camp tuition to his friends.
“Other scholarships were given to friends from affluent families that could otherwise afford the camp tuition,” Simon wrote. “The ‘friend’ recipients did not apply for the scholarships either. It was given and taken without going through any process. This is especially concerning, as we are aware of other scholarship applicants that were not awarded the full tuition.”
Simon also claimed the camp was allowing students from outside Alachua County to attend summer camp, when students within the county were unable to attend due to a lack of available spots.
Former Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Carlee Simon addresses the school board on April 12.
Investigation
On Jan. 19 the district placed Burton on paid administrative leave and began investigating Simon’s allegations. The district’s human resource investigators interviewed Simon, the camp’s registrar and executive assistant, the district’s Finance Chief Alexander Rella, Administrative Secretary for Public Information Prescott Cowles, who worked at the camp for a year and finally Burton.
Rella told investigators he had been aware of and concerned about the allegations made by Simon for over five years.
“I’ve been looking at it,” Rella told investigators according to the investigative report. “I’ve brought the same concerns up to all of the superintendents.”
Burton told investigators he followed the procedures that had been in place at the camp for years. He also claimed that he could not respond to many questions asked by investigators because he had been locked out of his records and email account. Burton added that at least on two occasions, he requested from the district assistance with drafting policies and guidelines for the awarding of scholarships.
At the conclusion of the inquiry, a five-member investigations review committee found that there was no probable cause for disciplinary action against Burton.
Defamation suit threatened
In response to the investigation, Burton’s attorney H. Bryan Boukari wrote to Simon, accusing her of denying Burton’s due process rights.
Boukari also claimed that Simon’s motivation behind the email and investigation was to give Scott Burton’s job to her assistant, Cowels.
Superintendent fired
The board fired Simon on March 1 on a 3-2 vote.
Board member Gunner Paulson was one of three members who voted to oust the superintendent and gave Simon negative performance reviews. Paulson was the member that gave Simon the lowest evaluation scores in the reviews.
In his performance review, Paulson cited Simon’s decision to not renew the contracts of nine administrators in 2021 as one example of her failure to employ positive relationship skills and her propensity to produce high anxiety among district employees.
On April 12, Simon appeared before the school board as a private citizen and continued to accuse Scott Burton of wrongdoing, reading an alleged email from the director which she said backed up her claims of Burton handing out camp scholarships to friends.
New school proposed
The lawsuit claims Simon’s actions against Scott Burton stem from an October 2021 community meeting held in Hawthorne in which Simon made a surprise announcement of her plans to replace Chester Shell Elementary and other Hawthorne schools with a new K-12 campus.
School Board Member Leanetta McNealy said she supported Simon’s idea, but Holly Burton stood against the plan.
“At that meeting, Ms. Burton publicly opposed the new K-12 facility because of Chester Shell Elementary School’s historical significance to the community,” the complaint alleges. “Ms. Burton encouraged Simon to include the community in these plans before moving forward with the project. It was evident at that meeting that Ms. Burton’s candor and suggestions to Simon’s plans was not appreciated by Simon.”
The complaint adds that four days after the Hawthorne community meeting, Scott Burton was summoned to Simon’s office and questioned about his living arrangements at the camp.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of defamation, interfering with a contract, interfering with a business contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
