Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 1-10-20

Feature
School Superintendent Search Narrowed To 8 Names
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
The Hillsborough County School Board on Tuesday narrowed the list of superintendent candidates from 13 to 8, but not before some tense exchanges.
After hours of individually review- ing resumes, board members selected 6 finalists: Stephanie Elizalde, Chief of Schools at Dallas Independent School District; James McIntyre, Di- rector of the University of Tennesee’s Center for Educational Leadership; Don Haddad, Superintendent of St. Vrain Valley School District in Long- mont, CO; Addison Davis, Superin- tendent of Florida’s Clay County Schools; Alexa Cunningham, Super- intendent of Utah’s Salt Lake City School District; and Peter Licata, Re- gional Superintendent for School Dis- trict of Palm Beach County.
They’re all vying to take over from Jeff Eakins the country’s seventh- largest school district when he steps down next June. Last fall, the board hired firm Ray & Associates to handle the search process for a new superin- tendent. It’s the first time in decades that the school board potentially is set to hire from outside the district’s ranks. Eakins and all three of his predeces- sors were tapped from within Hillsbor- ough District.
But not all board members were happy with the final cut. Tamara Shamburger especially was disap- pointed that none of the two Hillsbor- ough candidates who made the list of 13 – Deputy Superintendent Christo- pher Farkas and Chief of Schools, Harrison Peters – and were not among the final six.
“That is a complete indictment against Superintendent Eakins and his staff,” Shamburger said. “We as a
Board have sent a message that nobody in this district is worthy to lead this dis- trict, which I think is a shame.”
Information provided about the other candidates sheds little light on their ability to take on the challenges of the seventh-largest district in the coun- try, Shamburger said.
“Time is of the essence,” she said. “There’s nobody on this list that’s ready to lead from Day One.”
Before the Board voted on the final list, Shamburger requested to add Peters, a move that fellow board member, Cindy Stuart supported. Stuart then asked that Farkas be added as well.
“I feel like we owe it to longstanding employees who took the time to put their names out there, who have the
history,” she said. “They’re not current superintendents in this district so I think we owe them the opportunity to let them talk to about...how they would do things differently from how they are currently being done.”
Board member Stacy Hahn dis- agreed, saying that while candidates from outside the district are unfamiliar, “we have met the internal people who have been directly involved in trying to solve these problems and yet the prob- lems persists under that leadership.
“So, I am willing to look outside of this building, because I care about the children in this district,” she said. “We aren’t moving the needle fast enough and you want me to now consider two people involved in not moving the nee- dle fast enough? Makes no sense to me.
I want a change.”
But it’s not clear how the other can-
didates have “moved the needle” in their districts, Shamburger coun- tered.
“We can’t keep taking a risk when it comes to Hillsborough County schools and these kids,” she said. “We have to put our best assets where we have the most to gain.”
Hahn, however, wasn’t swayed.
“I want to take the time to find out if that person is on that list,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I’m still very committed to looking outside the district for the very reasons you want to look inside.”
Board member Steve Cona agreed.
“If you keep doing the same thing, you are going to get the same results,” he said. “Those six candidates I believe are the best ones for this school dis- trict.”
Board chair Melissa Snively sided with Hahn and Cona, saying that be- cause of Hillsborough’s size, it’s “criti- cal” that the district’s next leader have experience as a superintendent, which the internal candidates are lacking.
“Based on the evaluations and the activity we did today with the matrix, there’s obviously a majority of school board members who do not think they are ready at this time,” she said.
But Peters’s and Farkas’s experi- ences as leaders within a district as large as Hillsborough’s trumps that of the candidates outside the county, Shamburger said.
“And they can lead from day one,” she said.
Ultimately, in a 4-3 vote – with Cona, Hahn, and Snively opposing – Farkas and Peters were added to the final list. They will join the other candidates in interviews with the Board on January 16.
Stephanie Elizalde, Chief of Schools at Dallas Independent School District; James McIntyre, Director of the University of Tennesee’s Center for Educational Leadership; Don Haddad, Superintendent of St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont, CO; Addison Davis, Superintendent of Florida’s Clay County Schools; Alexa Cunningham, Superintend- ent of Utah’s Salt Lake City School District; and Peter Licata, Regional Superintendent for School District of Palm Beach County, Christopher Farkas, Deputy Superintendent and Harrison Peters, Chief of Schools, Hillsborough County School District.
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