Orlando Sentinel article:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/202...rld-district-fires-2-senior-leaders-2-others/
Excerpts below:
Three days before Thanksgiving, leaders of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Disney World oversight district fired two senior staffers and two other employees.
The district on Monday dismissed Eryka Washington Perry, director of communications, and Jason Middleton, chief of human resources, along with an administrative assistant and facilities maintenance specialist, according to an internal email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
District officials declined to comment, but administrator Glen Gilzean addressed the employee “separations” in an internal email to employees late Tuesday.
“These separations were isolated and specific and are not representative of our team members who show up every day with excellence and a clear vision of a stronger tomorrow for our taxpayers and visitors,” Gilzean wrote in a memo that listed the employees’ names.
The memo said no other details would be released.
Both Washington Perry and Middleton were hired by the previous Disney-friendly administration known as Reedy Creek
.
Middleton served as chief of staff to the former Reedy Creek administrator, John Classe.
With Gilzean in charge, Middleton moved to chief of human resources, district records show. Gilzean brought in Paula Hoisington, chairwoman of the Central Florida Urban League’s board, to serve as his chief of staff. She subsequently has been promoted to deputy district administrator.
Washington Perry, a former investigative reporter at WKMG-Channel 6, joined the district in October 2019, according to her Linkedin page. Until the new administration sidelined her, she had been the district’s lead media spokesperson.
Many of the district’s recent statements to reporters have been written by Athos, a public relations firm that bills itself as offering “strategic, high stakes communications experience in the private sector and at the highest levels of the federal government.”
District officials also have been referring reporters to Matthew Thomas Oberly, their new head of external affairs.
Athos touts
on its website that it is doing promotional work for books written by former education commissioner Richard Corcoran and conservative activist Christopher Rufo, both DeSantis’ allies.