Portland Public School Superintendent Xavier Botana Resigned This Afternoon at a Special School Board Meeting.
The Portland Board of Public Education voted this afternoon Friday, December 16 to accept the resignation of Superintendent Xavier Botana, effective January 31, 2023 or the starting date of an interim superintendent whichever occurs first.
In a statement he read at the special board meeting held this afternoon, Botana accepted responsibility for the payroll issues. “I recognize, as the chief executive officer, that I am accountable when things go wrong,” he said. “However, I believe my tenure is more than payroll problems.”
Botana outlined numerous accomplishments since he was hired in 2016. Those include the development of the Portland Promise strategic plan and work to make the Portland Public Schools more equitable for all. insuch ways as securing more funding for services for students experiencing oppordtunity gaps, including staff diversity to ensure Portland Public School employees are more reflective of the diversity at the student body, and giving voice and place to traditidonally underrepresented members of this community,
Work is ongoing to address the payroll problems. The district has hired Spinglass Consulting to conduct a forensic analysis of its payroll system and make recommendations for improvements.
(munjoyhillnews.com believes that Superintendent Botana’s resignation is most unfortunate. He will be extremely difficult to replace and his resignation is a very big loss for Portland Public Schools. Why do you suppose that the city of Portland has so much difficulty retaining excellent employees? That reminds me of one former city hall department head who once told me he was exhausted all the time. This valued city employee had to run a department at city hall all day and then attend numerous meetings at night to answer questions from the city council and multiple other committees. He said he was too exhausted to continue in that job. He left city employment. He has not been replaced either).