An official statement from Leon County Schools indicate that Dr. Michele Gayle and Mrs. Margaret Farris have been placed on administrative leave while Leon County Schools conducts a review of financial records related to the Foundation for Leon County Schools.<\/p>\n
The statement notes that \u201cAdministrative leave should not be interpreted as a presumption or finding of wrongdoing. This action allows the district to conduct a thorough and appropriate review of circumstances and determine whether any official action is warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Background<\/p>\n
Dr. Michelle Gayle is the Deputy Superintendent of Leon County Schools, serving as one of Superintendent Rocky Hanna\u2019s senior administrators. She leads the district\u2019s Office of Professional, Intervention and Community Services.<\/p>\n
Gayle\u2019s responsibilities are unusually broad. She oversees or works with School Board administration, prevention and intervention services, admissions, attendance and discipline, mental health and wellness services, purchasing, planning, marketing and events, School Choice, volunteers and mentors, business and community partnerships, the District Advisory Council and the Foundation for Leon County Schools.<\/p>\n
Before becoming deputy superintendent, Gayle served as LCS Assistant Superintendent for Professional and Community Services. In that position, she acted as a liaison between the superintendent, School Board and community organizations and oversaw areas including communications, volunteers, school choice and the Foundation.<\/p>\n
Margaret Farris is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Leon County Schools, the nonprofit direct-support organization associated with Leon County Schools. LCS lists Farris among its district administrators and places the Foundation under Deputy Superintendent Dr. Michelle Gayle\u2019s Office of Professional, Intervention and Community Services. Farris works from the LCS administrative complex and uses an LCS email address and telephone number.<\/p>\n
The available employment information indicates that Farris became executive director in April 2025, succeeding Eric Clark. A professional employment profile gives her tenure as April 2025 to present, and contemporaneous LinkedIn search results contain an announcement welcoming her as the Foundation\u2019s new executive director.<\/p>\n
The Foundation for Leon County Schools (FLCS) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that serves as the direct-support organization for Leon County Schools. It was created in 1986 to raise private and community resources for programs benefiting LCS students, teachers and schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An official statement from Leon County Schools indicate that Dr. Michele Gayle and Mrs. Margaret Farris have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-380807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380807","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=380807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}