Does the Arkansas training secretary’s household dwell right here or in Florida? Don’t even ask.

Again in January, when Jacob Oliva started his stint as Arkansas’s secretary of training, he launched his spouse and informed members of the state Board of Training that his youngest baby can be transferring right here from Florida to attend faculty.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette coated the assembly the place board members confirmed Oliva’s appointment and reported on his plans:

Training Board member Jeff Wooden of Little Rock made the movement to make use of Oliva, who attended Thursday’s assembly along with his spouse Rebecca. The couple have two kids, a school freshman and an eighth grader who will likely be attending an Arkansas faculty, Oliva mentioned.

With a brand new faculty yr now set to start, it’s unclear whether or not Oliva ever moved his household right here.

Questions directed to Oliva and to the Arkansas Division of Training about his household’s standing have to this point gone unanswered.

A spokesperson for the Arkansas Division of Training initially ducked a query about whether or not Oliva’s baby can be going to an Arkansas faculty. When pressed, spokeswoman Kimberly Mundell replied on Tuesday, “… you might be asking me to reply questions which can be non-public and private. Moreover, offering data concerning the place the secretary’s baby will go to highschool violates the federal Household Instructional Rights and Privateness Act (FERPA).”

Oliva has not but responded to an e mail despatched to him immediately Tuesday afternoon.

If Oliva selected to not enroll a toddler in an Arkansas faculty — nonetheless an unknown, since Oliva and Mundell each declined to reply the query — it wouldn’t be an unprecedented state of affairs. Loads of Arkansas officers skip out on Arkansas colleges, each private and non-private, in favor of homeschooling as a substitute.

However a cabinet-level state official declining to place roots down within the state he serves at a excessive stage raises huge questions on religion and dedication. It’s truthful to ask how invested he’s within the state and its colleges. Maintaining one foot within the Sunshine State hints Oliva isn’t right here for the lengthy haul.

Property data point out Jacob and Rebecca Oliva nonetheless personal a house in Flagler County, Florida.

And a data examine with the Arkansas secretary of state’s workplace confirmed Oliva has not registered to vote in Arkansas.

As of Wednesday, Oliva was nonetheless registered to vote in Florida, based on the Florida Division of State Voter Lookup.

A lady named Rebecca Oliva was working as an data programs help specialist for Flagler County Faculties as lately as Might, when she gained an award, based on the district’s web site and social media.

Jacob Oliva labored in Flagler Faculties for 17 years, the final three as superintendent, earlier than he took a job with the Florida Division of Training in 2017. He left the Florida division to turn out to be Sanders’ training secretary in 2023.

A social media submit signifies a Rebecca Oliva works for Florida’s Flagler County Faculties.

Oliva isn’t the one official in Sanders’ administration who’s new to The Pure State. Her chief of employees and prisons director each come from Arizona. Her communications director, Alexa Henning, likewise has no historical past within the state.

Critics have famous the transient really feel of the Sanders administration, staffed as it’s with Traveling Trumpettes and missing the folksy, pleasant accessibility of just about each earlier Arkansas governor in latest reminiscence, D or R, together with her dad’s.

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