Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Campaign 2024 - Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna

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Campaign 2024 - Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

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Rocky Hannah has been sitting behind the desk as superintendent of Leon County Schools for
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a number of years. He has decided to go one more time. He's
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running for reelection in twenty twenty four, and recently we had a chat under
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the category of conversations some people thought they would never hear. Rocky. Good
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to see you. How are you. I'm doing well. President, I'm
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doing well. I'm glad to be here. Really, this is, as
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we've kind of explained to people along the way, this is a format that
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just gives us a chance to talk. We don't have to worry about commercials.
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We don't have to worry you know, as I've told you, I
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don't have any questions written down here. And I asked you if there's anything
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specifically you wanted to have teed up. You said, no, everything's fair
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game. So let's just kind of back up a second and go sixty thousand
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feet for a few minutes. Here. The decision to run for office.
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When you first decided to run for superintendent, I think we probably talked back
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then and I questioned anyone's sanity for running for any kind of office. But
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now you've been there, done that, why the decision to run again.
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So first, let me say, as a lifelong resident of Tallahassee and Leon
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County, I'm a product of our public schools. It is truly an honor
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here at the end of my career after thirty six years to serve as superintendent.
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Quite honestly, there's some things on my to do list that I haven't
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finished. COVID got in the way of some of my initiatives, of some
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of my early education initiatives, some of the things we wanted to do on
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the post secondary side, with expanding career technical programs for our students once they
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left high school to show them alternative pass to a successful future they don't necessarily
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require the traditional four year degree. I want to get our graduation rates back
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up into the ninety percentile. But you know, we've accomplished a lot.
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I'm proud of what we have done over the last eight years. We've made
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a lot of progress and positioned our school district well for continue success in the
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future. But there's still things on my list that I want to see a
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list over the next four years, and then I'll step away. I'm not
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a career politician, quite honestly. When I was a principal leon I had
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no desire to run for superintendent. Circumstances happened in twenty twelve that led me
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to make the decision to run. In twenty sixteen, I saw some things
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that made me uncomfortable. Had been with our district for a long time,
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and how some of the practices were being displayed by those that were in charge
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at the time when it came to construction and other types of things. And
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I felt like we could do better and our kids deserved better. And so
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I'm proud of what we've accomplished, but there's still more work to be done
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over the next four years. Let's take a second and talk about those accomplishments.
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What would you list as the things that when you decided you were going
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to run, I want to make sure that we do this, or we
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do this differently, we do that. What are those things that you would
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list as those accomplishments, Maybe not the exhaustive list, but the ones that
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are most important. Well, first and foremost is schools. The number one
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responsibility I have is superintendent, is to ensure for the safety of our thirty
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thousand children and our employees. And we have made huge strides in that area.
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One of the first things I did becoming superintendent was to commit a million
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dollars to hire fifty security monitors to be dispersed throughout campuses across our county that
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could act as adult supervisors, to work alongside the armed officers that are on
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our campus every single day, to monitor who's coming on and off of campuses
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and if there is someone that doesn't belong that they can intervene and intervene quickly.
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That was one of the first commitments I made. Eight years later,
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I would dare say we have probably one of the most comprehensive school safety programs
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in the state, if not the country, and it's something I'm very proud
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of. We receive just over three million dollars a year from the State of
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Florida for school safety. We spend twice that amount. You can't put a
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price tag on a child's life in heaven forbid. Something like what happened in
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Parkland, Parkland and Marjorie Stone and Douglas High School happen in our unity.
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That is job one. So I'm really proud of what we've done in the
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area school safety. Can I ask you just to tag onto that do you
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feel that there's more to do? Yeah, there is, although we have
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you know, armed officers and guardians and all of our schools we have created
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single points of entry and hardened our schools. We have an anonymous alert app
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for kids. If they see someone that's in danger of self harm or harm
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to others, they can in real time report that activity to their school administration,
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who can act on it. We have AI software in our cameras that
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can detect weapons. We have a weapons detection dog. We have a twenty
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four hour monitoring system district security center that weekends, holidays, day in and
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day out, or monitoring what's going on. We monitor kids web queries when
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they're on their devices to see if they're doing Google searches for things that are
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inappropriate or may lead to them harming themselves, for harming others. I mean,
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And it's an extensive list of what we have acomplis but there always is
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more to be done, other things that you would count as things you're glad
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you've achieved or feel like you've made progress on. So one of the big
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commitments I made was to eliminate wasteful spending at the district level and push more
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resources down into our schools and down into our classrooms. Look, we can
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beg and complain about what we receive or don't receive from the legislature all day
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long, you know, the end of the day that falls on deaf years.
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We have what we have and how can we make the best use of
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it. And during my time at the district before I became superintendent, I
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saw some things that were concerning about where we were spending money, and I
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eliminated a number of positions at the district level. And since that time,
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we've pushed an additional three million dollars into our schools for instructional materials and supplies,
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instructional technology for our teachers, furniture and equipment for our principles to be
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able to refurbish their campuses. We've also pushed an additional million dollars a year
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down to support arts and athletic programs to reduce the costs of parents for kids
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to participate in those programs, which are vitally important to the whole education of
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a child, for them to be able to explore not only their academic creativity,
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but also to perform in the arts and athletically. Those programs were very
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important to me. So I'm really proud of the dollars we have pushed down
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into our schools to reduce the cost for parents and to give our principles and
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teachers the resources they need to provide a high quality education. What's on the
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to do list? There's plenty to do now, and we mean that's the
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motivating factor. You said, I'm going to run again because there's more that
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we haven't gotten done, maybe some delayed by COVID. We can certainly talk
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about that some. But what would be on the top of that list of
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your to do sticky notes? Well, you know, we have come a
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long way when it comes to compensation, teacher compensation and non instructional support staff
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compensation. We've raised the beginning teacher salaries with the help of the governor and
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in the legislature, we've raised beginning teacher salaries from thirty six five to forty
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seven to five and eleven thousand dollars over thirty percent increase. Veteran teachers like
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my wife, Christy, are now making one thousand dollars more per month than
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they were when I was taking office, not per year, per month,
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which is also something I'm very proud of we've raised our minimum age, because
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that was a real challenge. You know, I think all of us,
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well most of us agree. There's always a few people that don't think teachers
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deserve the kind of pay that they're getting, and I, well, you
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raise your teacher too well. And I also was in the education world enough
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to know that teachers are grossly underpaid, and I still think they are,
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and we probably have great agreement on that, Rocky. The thing that was
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the real stumbling block was, Okay, we've raised beginning teacher pay to where
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ten year veterans have been. How do you deal with that group of teachers
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that have been teaching for so long but now are suddenly equalled with a brand
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new teacher. And that's one of the things that it's on my to do
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list is to address what we call compression, where veteran teachers like my wife,
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Christy are making just a few thousand dollars more than these young kids coming
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out of college and then just entering the profession, which is, as you
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know, is a huge morale buster. Yes it is. So we are
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committed to identifying dollars to address that issue. We started last year trying to
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get some separation because we had years zero to fifteen stacked on top all at
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forty seven to five, and now we've created some separation between those first fifteen
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years. And where do you find that money? We know that the governor's
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allocating money towards this base level of pay, and I know that there's a
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new allocation for the new budget year. But where do you find those extra
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funds. It's being frugal at the district office, you know, quite honestly
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pressed in. It's us eliminating positions that are not necessary, cashing in on
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those salaries and benefit packages and pushing them down to salaries the same place the
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money comes from to enhance the classroom and for instructional technology. So last year
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the state gave through teacher raises about two point two million dollars. We layered
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another two point two on top of that to address compression. We've done that
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the last three years now, and we have I made a commitment that I
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would push as much money as possible down to our classrooms to support instruction and
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to our employees. So those are the things that kind of weigh on the
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purse strings of a superintendent and a school board. Is where is that line.
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You know, how much money do we need to push down into our
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schools for the things that our children need in the classroom day in and day
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out, and then how much money do we push to our employees. We've
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come a long way, but there's still more work to be done, and
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I will continue to go to the legislature. And you know, ninety eight
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percent of that is decided by the legislature day a, year in and year
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out, as they talk about the base student allocation. Very little of that
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once I cut to bare bones, which I kind of think I am now
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after eight years, there's not much left. There's not much more fact that
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I can cut here in Leon County. So it's a lot of that's relied
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upon the legislature for new funding. And you know, the students student enrollment
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is a huge thing, and you know, with increased competition, there's been
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talk about, you know, vouchers now going to support private schools and homeschool
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education. And no matter how I feel about that personally, it is what
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it is. Twenty years ago, when I was the principal at Leon,
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we were not in competition for public tax dollars. The public tax dollars went
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to public schools. Now, we are in competition for those dollars, and
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it's incumbent upon us to tell our story, to give parents a compelling reason
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why Leon County Schools? Why not? Why why not Maclay, why not
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NFC? Why not homeschool? Why why us? So it's incumbent upon us
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to tell our story and to give parents a, you know, a compelling
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reason to choose us. That's part of our whole rebranding, the marketing.
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Every every organization in the world markets, it's markets, it's product, and
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we just didn't have to for now, and now we do. We're in
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an age of competition, and we're going to step up and compete just like
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everybody else. There's a lot of meat on that bone, there is,
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and and we'll chew on some of that for a little bit. But let's
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let's talk about the migration issue. Parents pulling their kids, putting them wherever,
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without zeroing in on any particular place that they're taking their kids. What
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do you make of it? Well, I think it's kind of theft.
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The perfect storm. You have the legislature that has now approved vouchers going to
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support private schools, and listen, I went to Catholic School in kindergarten,
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first grade, second grade. I'm not sure what happened at Blessed Sacrament at
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the end of second grade. Either my dad ran out of money or the
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nun said the hannahboys got to go and off to public school. I went.
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But there was never an expectation of my father and my mother and father
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that the taxpayers would pay for me to go to Catholic school and go to
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Mass on Wednesday and all those things. But now we are, we are
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where we are. So I think it's that coupled with some of the things
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that are being said about teachers, about what's going on in the public schools,
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about things that are being taught, what things are being kids are being
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exposed to. I can tell you that if we have teachers in our schools
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that are not doing the things they need to be doing and in doctrinate and
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ey children, they're going to teach and we're going to do what's best for
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kids. But I think that narrative has gotten out there and we're finding ourselves
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having, you know, to defend our teachers and defend public schools, which
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ninety eight percent of the teachers, like my wife Christy's been teaching middle school
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science for twenty eight years, wakes up every single day to make a difference
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in a child's life. I would say the overwhelming majority feel that way.
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Yeah, that they really want to do the best job they can. I
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agree with you. However, I also know because I read my email,
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and I get email from teachers in the district, I get email from teachers
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out of the district, in other parts of the state and other parts of
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the country. I also know that there are teachers that are not being told
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on. They're outing themselves. They're recording their own statements of vitriol and defiance
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against what the governor, the legislature, or anybody says. And Rocky,
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the concern that I think I have that I express on behalf of others,
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not everybody, but others, is that that group of teachers that are activist
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educators, faculty members, they are the squeaky wheels that bully the others into
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silence. First of all, do you think there's some truth to that?
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Well, I think in any organization, and we have over twenty two hundred
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teachers that you're going to have a certain percentage of that they're in their own
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profession, and they're in it for the wrong reason. And just to be
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clear, I would no more support someone holding up a Ronald Reagan flag or
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banner than I would a Barack Obama. That's not the point that when I
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got on about you, but when I went through school, I didn't know
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the political beliefs of my teachers. So and to your point, Preston,
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I'm a former American government and American history teacher. Before, as my wife
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said, I turned to the dark side and became a school administrator, I
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taught American history in American government, and to your point, my job was
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to educate our children on our system of government and the platforms of each party.
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They should never know what party I belonged to, don't belong to,
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who I'm voting for, who I'm not voting for. We are as into
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education. Professional educators should educate children to make decisions for themselves and not try
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to influence them at all, and so I've held to that. That's why
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the first time I ran with no party affiliation, because I strongly believe and
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still do and that our job as educators is to educate children to make decisions
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informed decisions for themselves and not to influence them in any way whatsoever when it
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comes to politics, or religion or other aspects of their life. That's simply
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not our job. But that's where the divide has come for education inside Florida,
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and where parents given the fact that they don't feel like they're necessarily heard
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in all situations and circumstances. And I mean, you can hardly blame them.
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They get three minutes, right, you know, decided, Okay,
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they're going to pressure the lawmakers to give them the autonomy to move their children
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where they feel like they do have a such. Sure, I get that,
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and we are where we are. But I can tell you the people
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that get their three minutes in front of me, I am very attentive,
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and I listen, and I really want them to be heard, and I
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hear them, and I will do anything I possibly can to try to help
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our parents navigate what they need for their child, because every child is uniquely,
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uniquely different, and so if we have materials in our libraries that are
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inappropriate, it's being removed. If we have materials that are into the classrooms,
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if we have people that are doing things that should not be done in
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our public school system, then those than those things are going to be taken
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care of and dealt with inappropriate to who it what. I think that's the
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trick, isn't it It It is it is Some of it though, is
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really is cut and dry. You know that this is this is the appropriator
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is not appropriate? Other things that need to go before a committee to weigh
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in on the age appropriateness of any educational materials or things that are being discussed.
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You know, we tell our teachers teach you the standards. Standards are
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the standards of the standards. But some of these other things and topics that
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are being brought up, I think some of the materials that have been donated
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or whatever may be questionable. And if I find things and we find things
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that are that are inappropriate. We have over four hundred thousand titles in our
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libraries. I mean that's a lot. That's a lot of books, it
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is, But if we have from time to time something that's snuck in that
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doesn't belong, it's it's coming out. And if there are things that are
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questionable, that's why we have a committee of educated adults just sit about it,
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to sit around and talk about if it's appropriate or not. Can I
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bounce back to my to do list. So a couple of things. One,
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I'm really proud of a lot of the capital projects that we've done,
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especially at a number of our Title I schools. The geographical location of our
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schools, our high schools, our middle schools, at elementary school is really
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good. However, most of our schools now are aging, and even our
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new schools aren't new anymore. Chile's High School's over twenty years old, you
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know. Even Montford is, you know, over a decade old. And
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so it was incumbent upon me to go into some of those schools, especially
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like Ricords in Fairview. We're going to Nem's and Griffin. Those middle schools
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and high schools looked like they did when they were built in the sixties.
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I went to Raw Middle School forty five years ago. It looks the exact
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same today as it did when I went. My father went to Cobb and
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so we have been able to complete significant capital improvement projects at those schools.
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And the best part is we've done it without barring a single penny. And
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it's been my goal. How do you wait and measure the investment versus what
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the population numbers are telling us? About some of those schools and attendance numbers.
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Yeah, and so a lot of those attendant numbers and populate like Ricords
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is at an all time high rictors of over sixteen hundred students. They had
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been down around eleven hundred when I first took office. And look, brick
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and mortar do not make a school. I went to Leon High School,
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one of the older schools in the state of Florida. People make a school.
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But at the same time, kids need to have a sense of pride
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about where they go day in and day. Absolutely agree, and so I
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would dare say that Richters that campus is one of the most beautiful campuses in
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the state of Florida today. We did the same thing at Fairview Middle School.
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A lot of the schools that had been overlooked or neglected for years and
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have now seen significant improvements. So on the capitol front, that's some of
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my you know, some of my priorities lie there. In the next four
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years. In addition to that, I made commitments to two things that politicians
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could agree on on both sides of the AISF that's the importance of early learning
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in the formative years of a child's life. In zero to five, and
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then also the importance of career technical programs for kids to see all these other
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opportunities that do not require a traditional degree. I'm proud to say on the
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on one end of the spectrum and early childhood, we've created a Little to
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Leaders program where we partnered with the Early Learning Coalition. I've gone around to
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visit private providers to talk to them about training, how we can help them
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help our children. It's not a guys you there's no judgment, it's just
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how can we help in that space? You know, it's in the kind
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of reaction of you gotten. It's been really positive about private providers. It's
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been positive they once they realize their defenses are down, that we're not there
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to judge them in the quality of education they're providing. We're there to help
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them and to partner with them as these kids journey from ages two, three,
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four to us for kindergarten, our kindergarten readiness numbers in Leon County,
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fifty percent of the kids are considering kindergarten ready. Fifty percent or not entitle
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one schools only one out of five or twenty percent are kindergarten ready. If
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we can get those kindergarten readiness scores up when the kids first get to us.
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Then the third grade achievements every so it's a game changer, really is
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less and so we've committed resources. I've even gone to the Mattornity Awards at
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both hospitals and we give a little onesie to new moms when they have their
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baby. We talk about the important role they play as their child's first teacher,
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you know. And so it's that initiative that I'm really excited about that
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we now post COVID, we're back on a game. We're up and running.
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And then we have tripled the number of career technical programs we have in
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our schools over the last five years, and I'm really proud of that.
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We have welding programs beginning welding programs in three of our schools. We have
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an automotive and a drone program and an active program at Lincoln. Do those
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programs function as magnets then where if some choice specifically be there, they can
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basically rezone themselves to that they do. We have CNA nursing assistant programs at
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Child's and at God Being at Sale, and what's great about it is these
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kids can earn these credentials and then move on after high school, get an
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entry level job in the field they're looking to pursue, like healthcare as an
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example, instead of working at Starbucks or McDonald's or Walmart or whatever, they
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can get an entry level job in the nursing field while they continue their education,
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and a lot of those a lot of those employers will provide the funds
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for that continuing ad right, So I'm really excited. And that's one when
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I when I listened and I was on this, that was my platform in
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twenty sixteen. But listening even to you know now Governor DeSantis, the early
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childhood education, which is also a big priority for his wife, Casey and
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uh and the governor as well as career technical it was just heartwarming to hear
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that we're all on the same page. We you know, we can disagree
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on a lot of things, the importance of early childhood education and the importance
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of providing kids an alternative path to a successful career are are just nonpartison issues.
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To me, I completely agree. You've mentioned the legislature, You've mentioned
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the governor a couple of times. Rather than go through one issue after another
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after another, where there have been differences, some of which made their way
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to the morning show. Let me just ask you, in retrospect, any
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of those issues you would do over or differently. So, first, I
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want to say I was on board one hundred percent with the governor about the
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importance of keeping our schools open. I never wanted to close our schools ever
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from day one, and I was really back in March of twenty twenty,
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Commissioner Corcoran said, look, we're going to firefight this from classroom to classroom,
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from school to school. We're going to keep our schools open. I'm
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like, yes, yes, we do not need to shut our schools in.
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Let us just battle this internally, and if we need to shut a
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class down or shut a school down for a little while, then so be
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it. Unfortunately, we know the kind of snowballed into the message turned.
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We got a bunch of bad guidance from the very top less and look,
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President, I'm not I'm an educator, I am not a healthcare expert.
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I'm not a scientist. You know, I can't tell you the best practices
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or protocols. We picked a team, the you know, the country picked
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a team. We picked the CDC. We picked our local pediatricians and we
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ran and we ran with it. Coming off of that, the whole issue
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with the mask and that piece of cloth just destroyed us. I mean,
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it was just crazy how people reacted to that. And my job, and
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you mentioned Leon County a little while ago, is different than surrounding counties.
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Leon County is different than other parts of the state. I see my job
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as superintendent, no matter how I personally feel about an issue, is to
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do the will of the majority of the people in our community. And the
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majority the majority of our community wanted us to march on like we did.
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I wish we had never had to experience that. That was one of the
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toughest times in my life. However, I am extremely proud of the job
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we did in Leon County to keep our schools open and to keep our children
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safe. All in all, what we asked of our teachers, what I
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asked of my wife, Christy, to teach that hybrid model where twelve kids
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were in the class and twelve kids were remoting in from home and trying to
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teach both of those groups at the same time. It was nearly an impossible
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task, thankless task as well. It really was, and we were woefully
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unprepared for that. I mean we were built on brick and mortar stand and
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deliver instruction. We were woefully unprepared for distance learning. It good came out
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of it. Well, it forced our hand. It forced us to make
24:15
an investment and devices districtwide. We with the help of the federal government and
24:19
some of the money that came, we made ten million dollar investment where every
24:23
child has their own device that has all of their instruction materials loaded on that
24:30
device, where they can take back and forth from school to home. Our
24:33
teachers were all over the place. There was not one learning management platform.
24:37
Now we moved to Canvas a lot like Florida State and TCC already have.
24:41
So we're on one learning management platform where we can communicate to kids. It's
24:47
just night and day where we were and where we are. And so those
24:49
were some of the good things that came out of it. Was the continuity
24:53
of instruction. So now if a kid has mineown has to go home,
24:56
we're able to instead of sending the packet's own and the parents to come get
25:00
the packets. We're positioned much better. Heaven forbid that we ever have to
25:03
experience something like that again. I think we've learned our lesson that we will
25:07
not be shutting schools down again. Hopefully we've learned that lesson. Well I
25:10
hope the teachers Union has learned that lesson. Yeah, I mean that's my
25:17
That was one again. But I was in that and I was right with
25:21
the you know, right there with the governor on the importance of our schools
25:25
staying open. And I'm glad we did that where a lot of other states
25:27
during twenty twenty twenty twenty one were shut down. Yep, and definitely that
25:32
we were. We were open for business, and we gave parents, We
25:34
gave parents choices and options, and those that needed their children in school,
25:37
we were there. Our doors were open, and our teachers were there.
25:41
Those that were not comfortable about the situation and we're worried about the impact that
25:48
COVID was going to have on their family, we brought the classroom to them
25:49
the best we could. And I think years from now, how our public
25:55
schools reacted and dealt with that situation will be one of the defining moments in
25:59
history, really will. It was tough the work we went in that summer.
26:03
We didn't have devices at that time. We dismantled every single desktop we
26:07
had in our inventory that wasn't used for business purposes. We dismantled nine thousand
26:12
desktops to just disseminate to children and families that didn't have computers at home.
26:17
We came up with an Internet for All program. We partnered with Comcast and
26:22
T Mobile, so if parents and families couldn't afford Internet services, we were
26:26
able to get them connected. We bought nine thousand wireless dongles to where they
26:32
could make remote connections. We bought webcams to help kids that could then view
26:37
in on the Zoom classroom meetings. It was a lot of work and it's
26:42
something that I'm very proud of. We won't but unfortunately a lot of the
26:47
focus was lost on the issue of the mass. But again, there are
26:52
things that I'm sure we all wish we could have done differently, but we
26:55
didn't know what we didn't know at the time. Yeah, I mean,
27:00
and look, it's easy for me to sit outside the wheels of government and
27:03
to point out how wrong everybody was because they weren't following the science. And
27:10
it's really disheartening when the guy who has no credentials is right about the science,
27:15
and the scientists who have all the credentials were wrong about the science.
27:19
That is what it is. It happened, and that's why I asked what
27:22
good came out of it, because it's the ultimate lemonade and lemon thing.
27:26
Yeah, and again then, like I said, the good that came out
27:29
of it is we are now one to one district. All of our teachers
27:32
are on one learning management platform, and so there was a lot of good.
27:36
You know how Americans are. We are reluctant to embrace change. It's
27:41
like the metric system. No, no, no, we're good. The
27:41
rest of the world goes to the metrics. We have our own system of
27:45
measurement. We're good. We don't need that metric system. It was like
27:47
we were the same thing with technology. We had that technology at our fingertips
27:51
for years, just reluctant to embrace it. And this really forced us to
27:55
embrace the technology that was had been there the whole time. So I'm proud
27:59
of of what we've accomplished and what will continue to move the needle when it
28:03
comes to exploring how we can best deliver instruction to our children. Let's stay
28:10
on the topic of technology for a couple things. I have advanced this idea
28:14
to the Commission of Education for the state on a couple of occasions. I
28:18
brought it up to the Governor's office and lawmakers, and I've run it through
28:23
people that have been in education. Let's set aside for the purposes of our
28:30
discussion that the legal issues would be handled with my proposal. What if I
28:37
said, we're going to put classroom cameras in every instructional space and library,
28:47
and we're going to not live stream and only available if there's a question.
28:52
We're going to record what goes on in the classrooms. So if a teacher
28:56
is questioned about what exactly are you teaching, or a teacher's credibility is questioned
29:03
because the students making an accusation that's ridiculous, we have a defense for the
29:07
teacher. Or we have evidence of what's being taught or not being taught,
29:11
we have evidence of classroom conduct. Would you support such an idea we've had
29:17
as a matter of fact, Yeah, And we've had those conversations with our
29:19
teacher, Genia, and we do have some classrooms that they do have cameras,
29:23
especially in some of our with our exceptional students that have disabilities, because
29:29
it does exactly what you said. It really protects the teacher. But when
29:33
an incident happens and something these accusations are being made and the teacher goes,
29:36
wait a minute, look at the camera. So as an example, when
29:38
I was the principal leone, we had thirty two cameras on that campus.
29:42
Now we have well over one hundred cameras on all of our high school campuses.
29:47
And so now we're going to new technology for the quality of those cameras.
29:51
So we are enhancing and building the capacity for the camera system and the
29:59
monitoring syste that we have across the district, so that that's currently in progress
30:03
now. As far as cameras in the classroom, that's that's something that would
30:07
be negotiated conceptually. Yeah, to me, it's not a lot different than
30:12
why we now uniformly put cameras on police correct It settles a lot of arguments.
30:18
I would think that as a former instructor than principal now administrator of the
30:23
entire thing, that would be really helpful to be able to say, well,
30:27
let's see what happened, what really happened. I couldn't agree more so
30:32
in theory working out. We're not streaming it. You can't eavesdrop, you're
30:37
not looking in on an issue. We have a database to go to where
30:41
we can look at what happened in theory. That concept is not a bad
30:45
concept to you know, and we've had we've had those conversations over the past
30:48
couple of years, and we'll continue to have those conversations about how we can
30:52
do that, you know, without big people feeling like they're being big brothered
30:56
and watched every day and every second. To your point, there, there
31:00
has to be a way that we can accomplish both things. On the same
31:03
subject of technology, Orange County has famously said no phones other than when you're
31:11
coming to the office like the old days to make a phone call. You
31:15
can pull your phone out and come here and make a call at the office,
31:18
but not in the lunch room, not in between classes, certainly not
31:21
in the classroom. It seems to be working there according to the administrators of
31:26
Orange County. Question one, have you talked with them about that policy and
31:30
their their decision to use it, and secondly, would you consider it So
31:36
we are, yeah, we are in continued conversations, you know, the
31:38
cell phone thing is when you were hour in school, it was never an
31:41
issue. Right now it is in we function right well in our exactly how
31:48
in the world did we possibly survive a could mom and dad live without talking
31:51
to us every hour or knowing exactly where we were? Heaven forbid if they.
31:56
I don't know about you, but I am so glad that technology did
31:59
not exist. But but there's a true there's a true problem with it.
32:01
The problem is that it's being used to set people up for bullying, there
32:06
to get clicks. It's being used to harass students, and they're finding in
32:08
Orange County kids are talking at lunch now they're not filming it. You know,
32:13
when I was back to you know, my days as principal at Leon
32:15
and the technology wasn't even as nearly as advanced as is today, I was
32:20
wanting to put a bubble where you couldn't get any reception at all. It
32:22
was told that the FAA that wasn't that wasn't allowed by some law. I'm
32:27
like, well, let's just ask forgiveness instead of permitting. I mean,
32:30
let's just where no one can get a signal? Right to me, is
32:32
killed. The sigamine and there said well, in case of emergency, there
32:36
was this, there was that. But I think that there there has to
32:38
and that this is going to happen. I mean, there has to be
32:40
a common sense approach to how we can deal with these kids, because now
32:45
it's like a rite of passage. You're a third grader. Now you have
32:47
a cell phone, and you know, you turn ten, you get a
32:51
cell phone. And I agree, President, I'm with him, I'm with
32:52
him, but uh, it is an issue in our schools. We do
32:57
a really good job in our elementary schools, in our middle schools. Where
33:00
it becomes a little more challenging is with high schools. We can do it
33:05
in the classrooms, but these things. But the problem is too is these
33:07
things are worth so much money, and then you confiscate it, and then
33:12
someone takes it, and then the parents are screaming because you lost my kids
33:16
five hundred dollars cell phone. And so there are issues to work through,
33:21
but we're gonna we will get there. I pointed at to the fact that,
33:24
I mean, Orange County from a political perspective, is a fairly liberal
33:29
county, right, and they've embraced it and it's showing results and even now
33:34
the kids are turning on it and saying, yeah, this is working out
33:37
pretty good. It seems as though they had the autonomy to just go ahead
33:42
and do this. In your opinion, how far away are we from having
33:45
that kind of mandate that we need to do something to shut this down.
33:49
So we've had conversations internally and with the school board along along those lines.
33:52
And you know, you're you're a former coach, I'm a former coach.
33:55
We learned from others. We learned from my defenses. Where defense I learned
34:01
from someone else. I didn't make them up. And so it's incoming upon
34:05
us to go to go find other places that are having successes and model some
34:10
of what they're doing, you know. So I think it's you know,
34:14
incoming upon us to go out and look at other parts of the state or
34:16
other parts of the country that are having success with this issue, and then
34:20
to bring some of those practices to Leon County. I want to go back
34:23
to for just a second, the discussion on the legislature and the governor.
34:30
I have on occasion, others have said on occasion that you've picked fights with
34:35
the governor in particular on an issue here or there. First Is that fair?
34:39
Do you think that you really didn't pick fights? No, I honestly
34:45
don't think it's fair. I know some of your listeners will will disagree.
34:49
I think my job is to protect the interests of the public school system.
34:52
And when things are being said that I think are reckless, like teachers are
34:59
grooming kids, teach are indoctrinating kids kids teachers, let me just ask you.
35:02
Would it have been appropriate to say some I think much more appropriate?
35:08
Okay, I think he's I think his comments would changed. You're feeling for
35:12
what he's saying. I think I just think he was. He was very
35:15
aggressive in some of those comments. And now we're calling we're calling the government
35:20
schools, and in the government schools, they're turning boys into girls and girls
35:23
into boys and teaching critical race theory. And I'm like, what, I
35:27
don't even know what critical race theory is, much less could I teach it.
35:30
So in some isolated cases, things like that may be taking place,
35:34
but you can't just throw it out there, like oh my god. And
35:37
what the governor says, those words matter. That's the governor of the state
35:39
of Florida. What he says, he's very he's the most respected person in
35:44
the state. Parents, listen, Oh my, I can't send my kid
35:46
to the government school in kindergarten. They're going to try to turn my boy
35:51
into a girl or my girl into a boy. And I'm like, what
35:53
is this? And so yeah, I pushed back, you know, I
35:55
stood up and I talked to the teachers that were scared. Send an email
36:00
to teachers about teaching the standards like they had always done, not to do
36:05
anything inappropriate, not to engage in conversations they shouldn't, and if they did
36:09
that we would deal with that. But I felt like as the public school
36:15
superintendent that I needed to stand up and protect our teachers. But locally,
36:19
it did have some legs. It had some legs with posters that were at
36:22
Montford Middle School and the events at Deer Lake Middle School with the student that
36:29
was you know, information withheld from the parents. And while some of that
36:34
might be legal and we can't discuss it, I understand that. My point
36:37
is it's not like it was without merit statewide. Was it fair if it's
36:44
put in the terms of a blanket, of course not. Is it fair
36:47
to say this is an issue? And based on my experiences, the few
36:54
engage in bullying and so the majority get real quiet. So what I felt
37:00
like was happening was almost a perfect storm. Remember that movie The Perfect Storm,
37:02
Right, it didn't Sadly I watched right, it did not end well.
37:06
Well, was it a very good movie? It did not end well.
37:08
And so what I see from my vantage point after being with our district
37:13
for thirty years is something I've never seen before, where you have these things
37:17
that are being said about the public schools and the government schools and indoctrination and
37:22
grooming on one side. That's one storm. And then couple with that is
37:25
the expansion of tax vouchers and tax credits that can go to support people leaving
37:30
to go to private school and those things colliding on top of the public schools.
37:35
So I'm trying my best to defend our public schools and and what we're
37:39
doing in our schools and to protect our resources. And if people get offended
37:44
by that or get upset about that, I'm sorry, but I think one
37:47
of my responsibilities is to stand up and protect the integrity of the public school
37:52
system in Leon County. Do you feel as though the lawmakers on the other
37:55
side of some of these issues, for example, famous that don't say gay
38:02
legislation, which wasn't that. It never said that it had nothing to do
38:07
with what they made it. Did you push back on that? No,
38:12
I mean I try as much as I possibly can. Like I said,
38:15
I don't. My job is to educate kids. It's not to get involved
38:19
politically, even even as superintendent. However, things, if there are things
38:22
that affect our schools and affect our teachers and affect our students, I have
38:25
pushed back. I think both sides, whether it's that don't say, don't
38:30
say gay issue or the stop Woke Act, or it's just it's a bunch
38:36
of nonsense. I mean, it's just we talk about a lot of things.
38:38
We spend a lot of time talking about things that really are not issues
38:42
in our schools. We talk about the restroom. The restroom thing. We
38:46
out of thirty thousand kids, we have five kids that have plans where they
38:52
can go to a gender neutral restroom for privacy, five out of thirty thousand.
38:57
Yet we spend all of this time talking about who's going to go in
39:00
what restroom, and who's going in what locker room, and who's playing what
39:04
sport, And it's really not an issue locally, except that it could be.
39:07
And I think that's the issue we're seeing the incrementalism we're watching in other
39:13
states. And I understand it's not Florida. I get that, but it
39:16
starts somewhat. And that's where I want your listeners to know that I may
39:21
have gotten a bad rap because of pushing back on the mass thing because I
39:24
felt like that's what the majority of people wanted, and pushing back when we
39:28
talk about our teachers grooming and in doctrinating kids, I am a lot more
39:31
like your listeners than they can possibly realize. I want boys going in boys
39:36
bathrooms, girls going in girls' restrooms, boys playing boys sports, and girls
39:39
playing girls sports. But we aren't afforded anymore, you especially, I mean
39:45
certainly, I A is just a guy out there in the public and someone
39:50
who will always take my three minutes because I paid my taxes. And even
39:53
though my grandkids are now coming into the decisions on what schools are going to
39:58
go to, you'll think I have every right to talk about what goes on
40:01
in our schools, even though I may not have kids, And I encourage
40:05
our people to do the same that listen to this show and don't have kids,
40:07
but we're being affected by this rocky. We're watching boys compete as girls
40:15
and take scholarships away, and take awards and state records. It's happening not
40:20
only on County, it's son and I will stand up for that present.
40:23
We don't agree on much this we agree on, I promise you. Well,
40:28
actually you said we agree on more than you think. Well, we
40:30
did. And I think we agree on a lot of the fundamental issues.
40:35
And we might agree on that's a mountain, and we might disagree on how
40:38
to best climb that mountain. I'm okay with that level of disagreement. I'm
40:43
good with those kinds of things because I think we're imminently better people by learning
40:45
from Okay, that's how you see climbing that Now, there's a good idea
40:50
on that part of climbing that area. Let me tell you where else I
40:52
think. What else I think we can agree on is my management of school
40:55
finances. I am proud we have done all these projects without borrowing single penny.
41:00
The last two times the adit or general has been here, we've had
41:02
zero audit findings. I may lean a little bit left, a little teeny
41:07
bit left on social issues. I am way right on being physically responsible,
41:12
physically responsible with the taxpayer dollars we have Leon County Schools. We have reduced
41:16
capital debt by one hundred and seventy million dollars. By the end of my
41:21
final term in twenty twenty eight, Leon County Schools for the first time in
41:25
forever, will be one hundred percent debt free. I'm really proud of that,
41:29
and I'm very excited about We are not borrowing money. We're living within
41:31
our means. We've paid down, we pay down our debt, and we'll
41:35
be debt free that way. Whoever the next superintendent is, if we need
41:37
to go build a school in the Northeast, they have the bonding capacity to
41:42
borrow one hundred and fifty or two hundred million dollars and do the things they
41:45
need to do. The playbook in the past from others has just been running
41:47
up. I don't care when I'm gone, that's somebody else's problem. Just
41:51
run up, like you talk about the national deficit. It makes me want
41:52
to throw up, sure, it makes me sick. Well, I'm not
41:55
doing that locally. We're going to be debt free. So instead of just
42:00
pointing out the credit card and doing these projects and running the debt up where
42:02
the next guy I inherited two hundred and forty million dollars of capital debt,
42:07
right, instead of running that up to half a billion dollars, We've paid
42:10
it down and we'll be debt free. So in that regard, In that
42:14
respect, and as far as the Auditor General and our audit reports and our
42:16
audit, what we've done financially, I'm very proud of. How do you
42:23
let's talk about that. The nature of the beast and running for reelection,
42:29
it's really weird in schools because your competitors are employees, Right, You're going
42:37
to have a primary and then you're going to have a general election against an
42:42
employee. How do you navigate That's it's uncomfortable, but you know, as
42:47
you were in that spot, I was. But let me I will say
42:51
this honestly, it's really not about any opponent I may or may not have.
42:57
I really think this is going to be a referendum of how our community
43:00
feels about my leadership and what we've accomplished. What did I say we were
43:02
going to do and what did we do? I said we were going to
43:06
push more money down to classrooms. We've done that. I said we were
43:08
going to make our school safer. We've done that. I said we were
43:10
going to increase salaries for teachers and employees. We've done that. I said
43:15
we were going to address early learning and post secondary and career technical opportunities for
43:20
kids. We've done that. I said we were going to reduce that.
43:22
We've done that. So I think it's how do your people how to your
43:27
listeners and how does our community feel about Rocky Hannah. And at the end
43:31
of the day, as someone brings forward a platform that talks about change and
43:36
what they would do differently instead of just hurling rocks at me all the time
43:38
and playing Monday morning quarterback, which is easy. Anybody could do that.
43:43
And if someone gives a compelling reasons for why they should be to change and
43:45
that's what our community wants, then so be it. I'll live with that.
43:49
But I'm again, have there been missteps? Yeah? Am I perfect?
43:52
One's perfect? No? But I promised you this man. I said
43:57
that I don't consider myself a politician. I'm a Tallahassee kid. I never
44:01
left turned sixty next week. I wouldn't live anyplace else and we have our
44:07
differences and may at times disagree. I love Leon Kenny, I love Tallahassee,
44:12
and I'm committed to our public school system and most importantly to the success
44:15
of our children. In that this is a kind of a little bit of
44:20
a ven Diagram thing. Jeremy Mattlow City Commissioner has decided to start a pack.
44:28
I've been here since nineteen eighty seven. You've been here a lot longer
44:30
than me. I don't remember ever a sitting elected official setting up a pack
44:38
to in essence, oust colleagues and support others. And the venn diagram is
44:45
this involves now the school board, without speaking about Jeremy, the race or
44:53
any of that, your thoughts on that general idea, because you just talked
45:00
about everybody can play Monday morning quarterback. But we're in a new time and
45:05
the time is that we now have colleagues putting a political action committee together to
45:12
attack other colleagues. To me, that's it's completely inappropriate, and what's going
45:16
on in the City Commission is just but it's it's spilling now into the county
45:22
and it's spilling into your world with the school board. Well, and I
45:24
can say this, I am very proud to work with our five school board
45:30
members. We have an amazing school board. They're very engaged, they do
45:32
their homework, they're in our schools. They don't just talk to talk,
45:36
they walk. They walk the walk. And although we don't always agree on
45:38
every issue, I wouldn't expect you, I wouldn't want you to know you
45:42
shouldn't you absolutely shouldn't. They hold me accountable. And that's why I like
45:45
our system of an elected superintendent and elected board members where I'm not beholding to
45:51
them and just trying to make them happy so they don't get pissed off and
45:53
make a motion and vote me out on one Tuesday night. Agree that we
45:58
hold each other accountable, and but for every single one of them. And
46:02
I'll give Lori Cox as a classmate of mine. We went to Leon High
46:06
School together and we and she's amazing. She's wonderful and brings a new fresh
46:13
voice to the board and she's been with our district for thirty six years as
46:15
a teacher. She knows what it's like to be in the trenches. And
46:20
whether it's Lori or whether it's Darryl or all of them, we don't always
46:22
agree, which is to your point, we shouldn't and they shouldn't, but
46:25
we do it in a civil manner. And what's going on in the City
46:29
Commission and it's just sad. It's just really sad. And I can't imagine
46:34
our school district letting that creep into our board. I hope, I hope
46:38
it never happens, because at the end of the day, we our children
46:43
deserve better, and they deserve adults like acting like adults. In essence,
46:46
it's already crept in because it's now in the race, it's in the county
46:51
races, it's in the city races, it's in the school board races,
46:54
so it's there. I was just curious to get your feedback on the development
46:58
because again, you know, and I'm sitting as a Republican, and with
47:02
the exception of the school board, these are nonpartisan races. I don't well,
47:08
I don't have a dog in that fight. Right. Well, to
47:10
you your point, the school board is nonpartisan, too supposed to be,
47:15
and so they're all running, they're all running nonpartisan, but you're running as
47:19
a Democrat because because the Constitutional Officers UH is partisan set by the State of
47:24
Florida. I didn't make that rule I wish and this, which is why
47:28
I ran the first two times nonpartisan. Is why did you change? Honestly,
47:35
I think because I I've been a registered Democrat my entire life, not
47:40
because I was in line with the party platform. At the end of the
47:44
day, I vote for the person, not the party, and being registered
47:47
as a Democrat in leon Cannon gave you more opportunities to participate in primaries where
47:52
a lot of times were not Republican candidates. My wife's Republican, many of
47:57
my friends are Republicans. Be outing them. No, man, That's why
48:04
I'm trying to tell you we are so much more like than you think I'm
48:07
you know, I consider myself a moderate, uh, but if physically I'm
48:10
very responsible. I just thought this time too, I needed to run as
48:15
a Democrat because I have upset. I have upset some people right, wrong
48:21
or indifferent, and I'm trying to make amends for that because at the end
48:24
of the day, I just want what's best for our children and and I
48:30
be honored to serve you know, another four years and then step away.
48:32
I'm not the career politician. I'm not a lifer. I just want to,
48:37
you know, do forty years and then after that turn it over to
48:42
someone else and then walk away and say, you know what, job well
48:44
done? So is this this then would be your last term? You know?
48:49
Yes? Why I mean if if, if the county is because it's
48:54
it's just not pressing. It's not easy. It's taking its toll on me.
48:58
It's taking its toll on my family, you know, especially coming through
49:01
COVID and all that. I think, and I think twelve years is enough
49:07
now you don't want someone to me at some point enough's enough. And I
49:12
think three terms in twelve years would be at a time where I could walk
49:15
away. We can complete a lot of those projects. I can can finish
49:19
a bunch of the early learning initiatives, most of the post secondary things with
49:22
the career technical programs that are on my to do list, and then let
49:27
someone else and let someone else step in. I'll be sixty four years old.
49:30
I don't want to be running for office when i'm eighty, unlike some
49:32
other folks in our country. But you know, I mean that, you
49:37
know, and you want to go out on top, right, You want
49:38
to go out gracefully in on top. It's like Tom Brady, When is
49:42
the right time sure you want to, you know, when is that right
49:45
time? And I'm proud of I really am, no matter what happens,
49:49
no matter what happens in August, in November, I'm proud of what we've
49:53
accomplished. And you know, I just I can't convey enough how to your
49:59
listeners how much it's more alike than that we are than they can ever imagine.
50:02
You know, I was a former officer in the United States Army,
50:06
I was in the military police, I fish, I hunt. I just
50:13
think that time period during COVID, with the whole mass thing, kind of
50:17
painted a picture of me as this person that I'm not. You mentioned branding,
50:24
rebranding, which obviously brings up the logo. Yeah, you're taking some
50:30
heat for that logo. Sure, And you know what, a lot of
50:34
the conversation and the money was spent on everything but the logo. It was
50:37
spent on research and meeting with parents of kids that were in our schools.
50:40
Okay, why are you with us meeting with parents of kids that were not
50:44
in our schools? Okay? What did we do to push you away?
50:47
It was gathering that information to build a marketing strategy around Okay, what can
50:52
we do to encourage parents to send their kids back to Leon County Schools or
50:59
not to leave at all. It was many things, and it was developing
51:01
that marketing strategy. It was everything but the logo. But unfortunately all people
51:07
saw was one hundred thousand dollars logo. Right well, and I mean,
51:09
and in fairness, I mean, that's kind of tip of the iceberg on
51:13
the cost of implementing a logo change, right, because don't you have to
51:16
rebrand trucks and stationery and all kinds of other things over time. Yes,
51:22
overtime those things will happen. But the one hundred thousand dollars was more than
51:27
just the day logo. It was all of the research and all the marketing
51:31
we're doing now on social media that was all paid for that with that contract.
51:36
And so let me say this, the logo that Leon County Schools has
51:40
today or p or prior to this is the same logo that's on my diploma
51:45
from forty two years ago. It was just time. It was just time.
51:49
And it's like the Nike swoosh or the Apple or the Amazon logo.
51:58
Is the logo going to bring some one or push someone away from our from
52:00
our school. No, probably not, But at the end of the day,
52:05
I it does give us a chance to redefine who we are, to
52:09
tell a narrative of why our school system is so great, why parents should
52:15
send them to whether kids have desires to go to Ivy League schools or go
52:19
to Welding school, that we are the place for them. Well, I
52:22
promised you before we started this that I would give you an opportunity to just
52:25
share your thoughts on a myriad of topics. And I think we've covered everything
52:30
that I it's been popping into my head. Is there anything you feel like
52:35
you want to share that we haven't touched on? No? Again, just
52:37
what an honor. It is truly a service, superintendent. And you know
52:42
there have been challenges, but my father named me Rocky for a reason.
52:46
I'm a fighter and I will always fight on behalf of our students, our
52:50
teachers in our schools. And I appreciate the time with you, I really
52:53
do. And then there's much respect. Preston. Well, you're a good
52:58
man for coming in and as I told you, I would be fair,
53:00
and because I have not hidden my differences with you over the years, and
53:08
nor have you hidden your differences in terms of just you know, you don't
53:13
react to me, and I wouldn't expect you to. I I respect the
53:20
position that you hold, and I understand, I think pretty well the difficulties
53:24
of it. And it's not for the faint of heart. It's not easy.
53:28
And I appreciate you because I've always believed you've wanted what's best for the
53:32
kids that I've always believed. I've disagreed with some things in how you've tackled
53:37
certain issues or said certain things, but I've never doubted that you want what's
53:42
best for the kids well. And I appreciate that. And because at the
53:46
end of the day, again I'm gonna tell as a kid that just wants
53:50
to do right by the children that we're bringing up and we're raising and to
53:53
give them the best opportunity for successful future as we possibly can. Thanks for
53:58
the time, Thank you for having. If someone wants to just they want
54:01
us find out more, it's Rocky Hannah h A n n A dot org.
54:07
That's it, Rocky Hannah dot org. Be honored to have your vote
54:09
and your support. And I won't let our community down. I just want
54:13
we're gonna get rid of this debt and we're gonna position our school district well
54:15
for continuing success in the years to come. Thanks, thank you.