JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker has learned that several well-known names are vying to become the next permanent CEO of the Kids Hope Alliance, the city agency responsible for overseeing youth programs and services.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Two hundred and thirty-five people have applied for the high-profile role, including former Duval County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Diana Greene and former Duval County School Board chair Lori Hershey.<\/p>\n Greene, Hershey past questions<\/p>\n Greene left the school district under pressure in 2023<\/a> after the fallout from the arrest of a former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts teacher. <\/p>\n It was related to a scathing letter from the Florida Education Commissioner who called the district\u2019s delay in reporting dozens of other incidents of teacher misconduct at other schools \u201ccompletely unacceptable.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Action News Jax reported in 2019 that Hershey, who at the time was advocating for a half-cent sales tax increase to fund nearly $2 billion dollars in repairs to local schools, had been faced with a federal tax lien (along with her husband) in 2009 for about $7,500 that was not paid off for three years. When Hershey first ran for the school board in 2012 and filed a financial disclosure, the lien was not listed. <\/p>\n KHA leadership in flux<\/p>\n Current interim KHA CEO Dr. Diana Kriznar, who previously served as interim DCPS superintendent, has not applied for the permanent position.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n The CEO search follows a troubling period for the agency. Action News Jax first reported in October that former CEO Saralyn Grass was fired<\/a> after an investigation uncovered concerns<\/a> about communication with the board and her connections to a private consulting company<\/a>. Grass had been earning a salary of $216,000.<\/p>\n The board is also reviewing numerous providers on its non-compliance list<\/a>, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n A pattern of scrutiny<\/p>\n The Kids Hope Alliance has come under fire in the past. Back in 2020, an Inspector General report revealed a sex scandal<\/a>, alleged mismanagement, and lack of oversight at KHA under then-CEO Joe Peppers, who was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a woman who later filed a sexual harassment complaint. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n In 2018, Peppers also claimed in emails that he was pressured by former Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry\u2019s administration to allocate $350,000 in grant money to select organizations.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next<\/p>\n A new CEO is expected to be in place by the end of June or early July. <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Action News Jax\u2019s Ben Becker has learned that several well-known names are vying to become…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,107246,1038,28,348,116,351,118,117,9021,107248,107247,349,350,346,345],"class_list":{"0":"post-242991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-cbs47","10":"tag-diana-greene","11":"tag-duval-county-public-schools","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-fl","16":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","17":"tag-jacksonville-news","18":"tag-kids-hope-alliance","19":"tag-kids-hope-alliance-ceo","20":"tag-lori-hershey","21":"tag-northeast-florida","22":"tag-southeast-georgia","23":"tag-wfox","24":"tag-wjax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}