Former Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Carlee Simon addresses the school board on April 12.
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— The former superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools leveled another allegation against the director of Camp Crystal Lake during a school board workshop on Friday, April 12.
Carlee Simon addressed the board during the public comment period of the meeting.
While superintendent, Simon ordered an investigation into the financial operations of the facility and its director Scott Burton. However, the investigation concluded with no probable cause found.
On April 12, Simon appeared before the school board as a private citizen and read to the board an email which she said originated from Burton. In the message, the director allegedly talked about awarding camp scholarships to “business partners.” Simon said that in the email, Burton also stated he does not want anyone to know about the scholarships.
Simon’s reading of the email comes after six months in which the district investigated Burton, Burton’s threat of suing the district for defamation, and Simon’s own termination as superintendent.
8,000 campers a year
In a presentation to the Keystone Heights Rotary Club last year, Burton said that between the 1,200 annual summer campers, 5,000 campers during the school year and parents who accompany their children on some trips, the facility hosts around 8,000 people a year.
He said the camp, situated in Clay County south of the Keystone Heights Airport on the northwest shore of Crystal Lake, was acquired by the district under the guidance of Superintendent Howard W. Bishop in the 1940s.
“In 1947, Camp Crystal Lake was part of the Keystone Heights Air Base which was owned by the United States Department of Defense after World War II,” he said. “The War Assets Administration was given the authority to sell federal lands and property that were not essential to our nation’s defense. Thus in 1947, the 151 acres and 28 existing buildings that became Camp Crystal Lake were put on the market for $17,500.”
Burton said that at the same time, the Florida Legislature passed the Omnibus School Bill which expanded the scope of public education beyond the Three R’s and enabled school districts to spend state and local taxes on a wider variety of programs.
Burton added that before COVID, in addition to school district campers, Camp Crystal Lake hosted between 18 and 20 private groups a year, including groups from the University of Florida and youth groups from Jacksonville, Gainesville and the Lake Region.
He said he also tries to host one or two community events a year.
“One of the big ones that we do right now is something called Camp Hazelnut,” he said. “It’s typically in October every year. This last year was cancelled due to the pandemic.”
Burton said Camp Hazelnut is attended by around 70 children with pancreatic cancer and is co-hosted by the band Sister Hazel.
Superintendent’s email
Simon first accused 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.
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. He added that his client was entitled to a copy of the allegations lodged against him, as well as witness statements and exculpatory evidence of which the district is aware.
Boukari added that Simon broke several state and federal laws in making her accusations against his client.
“Please be advised,” Boukari wrote, “that Mr. Burton has become a target of Dr. Simon’s well-known, vengeful propensities as the ‘investigation’ that grew out of her own personal ‘pre-investigation’ has turned into an inquisition designed to uncover some wrongdoing that can be laid at Mr. Burton’s feet to justify Dr. Simon giving his position to her hand-picked personal assistant, Prescott Cowles,” Boukari wrote.
On Feb. 8 Boukari sent a letter to school board chair Rob Hyatt, warning that unless the district retracted and renounced Simon’s allegations, the district could face a defamation lawsuit.
He said Simon broke the law in several ways, one of which was her failure to keep the investigation confidential.
“At best, the Superintendent’s actions display a level of gross incompetence that is difficult to imagine this board would accept,” the attorney wrote. “At worst, and more likely, we believe, is that Superintendent Dr. Carlee Simon intentionally targeted Mr. Burton, maligning his impeccable character and reputation. What is so shameful is that we believe she did this not out of concern for Camp Crystal Lake but as a means to yet again promote her hand-picked personal assistant who she has already fast tracked over the last year.”
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.
Paulson said the administrators were terminated without the opportunity to get feedback from Simon or the chance to improve their performances.
“Not only was the superintendent’s lack of effective communication a stunning surprise to the administrators,” Paulson wrote, “it sent a clear message to all district and school administrators that any administrator could be non-renewed without explanation nor would be given the opportunity to discuss concerns with the superintendent.”
Simon returns as private citizen
On April 12, Simon appeared before the school board as a private citizen and read to the board the email which she said originated from Burton.
“‘Remind me to have a private conversation about my ‘I won’t identify,’ guys,” Simon said, reading from the text message. “I am giving them a partial scholarship as a thank you for being business partners with us.”
“Camp Hazelnut is getting bigger and bigger, and it looks great having their kids here,” Simon continued. “This is not a scholarship in the sense they are financially struggling, but more, like I said, a thank you. Make sense? I don’t want anyone to know. We are also moving the student to a two-week session. They know not to talk as well.”
“This is a public school system,” Simon said after reading the message. “These are taxpayer dollars. As far as I see it right now, one of the reasons I asked for the investigation is this is mismanagement. I’ve informed you of this. I’ve shared this information with you. We’ve had to do an investigation.”
Simon then recommended to current Superintendent Shane Andrew that he launch in external investigation into Camp Crystal Lake.
When Simon exceeded the three-minute limit for public comment, she asked Chair Rob Hyatt for more time. When he said no, she lashed out at the board member.
“You are trying to stifle this continuously,” she told Hyatt, “and your past concerns with fraud that was not mentioned…”
With that, Hyatt cut Simon off and moved onto another speaker.
