Ken Savage was sworn in as Superintendent of the School District of Lee County on Tuesday, one day after the former superintendent asked the board to approve his leaving the post immediately.
The swearing-in came after the board voted 6-0 to approve Savage in the position.
Lee County school board members learned over the past weekend that their then-current superintendent, Christopher S. Bernier, wanted to end his reign.
In spite of knowing his intentions to no longer serve in Lee County at least past this fall's election, they seemed stunned by the suddenness.
They then turned again to Savage, who was the district's chief strategy officer. He had been interim superintendent prior to Bernier's appointment in 2022.
During a special meeting Monday, the school board agreed to honor Bernier’s request to leave the district as of Tuesday.
Bernier was sworn in as superintendent in May 2022. The following November, 62 percent of Lee County voters decided to no longer have the school boards appoint the superintendent as they have done since the early 1970s. The vote was in favor to make the position partisan.
At Tuesday's meeting some board members, notably Armor Persons, stressed that Savage was not going to be an "interim" superintendent.
"For the public's knowledge, there is no such thing as an 'interim' superintendent," he said. "You're either superintendent, or you're not. If we approve this, and after he is sworn in, he will be the superintendent. It is for a defined amount of time, obviously, because of the election coming up."
A vote was then taken with the unanimous outcome.
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