January 12, 2012 04:15 PM
Four finalists for Palm Beach County schools superintendent won’t be picked until Wednesday, but the School Board’s possible choices are emerging.
Wayne Blanton, who is leading the board’s national search, today identified nine applicants getting close consideration. The board received 25 complete applications by last Friday’s deadline.
Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, is conducting background checks on his nine finalists, with the assumption that the board will agree these are the strongest candidates.
In alphabetical order: Janis Andrews, Palm Beach County’s assistant superintendent for curriculum; Michael Bauman, chief business officer for St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools; James Browder, former Lee County superintendent; Barbara Jenkins, deputy superintendent for Orange County schools; Constance Jones, chief academic officer in Lee County; Harry La Cava, former Indian River County Superintendent; Art Stellar, former superintendent of Burke County (N.C.) Public Schools; Bernard Taylor, who recently took leave from his job leading the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public School District; and T.C. Wallace, Jr., superintendent of the Lansing, Mich., school district.
Missing from Blanton’s list is Tom Watkins, a Michigan-based education and business consultant who once served as executive director of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County.
The four candidates who get the most votes by the School Board on Wednesday will be named finalists to be interviewed between Jan. 30 and Feb. 9. The community will also get to know them during meet-and-greet sessions to be announced.
Board members want to pick the new superintendent by March 1, with a start date no later than June 1.
Categories: Marc Freeman (78), Palm Beach schools (158)
