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Hernando Today

7 in running for superintendent

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By JEFF SCHMUCKER | Hernando Today

Published: December 8, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Three more candidates have been eliminated from the school district superintendent search with board members expecting to interview seven candidates in January.
Both local candidates are still in the running.
During Tuesday's Hernando County School Board workshop, three candidates — I.V. Foster Jr., a superintendent of from Illinois, and Rose Terri McSweeney, a deputy superintendent from New York, and Arnold Spadafora, a former associate superintendent from New York — were eliminated from the list for interview.
The rest, including Interim Superintendent Sonya Jackson and Hernando High School Principal Kenneth Pritz, are slated for interviews in mid-January.
Board members each selected their top picks from the list of nine finalists. They then compared that list to see whether there was consensus.
Of that list, four candidates stuck out, including Jackson, among the top picks. The others were:
* Gregory Adkins, chief negotiator and executive leader of the Division of Human Resources for Lee County School District. He lives in Fort Myers.
* John R. Phillips, most recently director of university and school district partnerships at Claflin University in Orangeburg, S.C.
* Bryan Blavatt, a retired superintendent from Union, Ky., who has 25 years of school administrative experience.
Deciding ahead of time to select seven from the nine candidates, board members then considered how many considerations each of the remaining candidates received.
Pritz and S. Jayne Risen Morgenthal, most recently superintendent in Elizabethtown, Ky., each received four recommendations from board members and were selected as the next two candidates for consideration. Aaron K. Mackey, a former superintendent from Ohio, who received two recommendations, was selected as the final candidate.
Although he wasn't one of the nine selected from the superintendent search committee, board members elected to reconsider him earlier in the meeting.
Board Attorney Paul Carland II told board members that the school district is responsible for paying lodging, travel and other expenses for the candidates. During the last superintendent search, he said the district paid $3,534 in expenses for five candidates.
However, Board member Diane Bonfield said she preferred to see at least seven be interviewed for the position.
"Last time we interviewed five candidates — we should've interviewed more," Bonfield said.
The other four board members agreed.
A reception to meet the candidates will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, at the board office with board members scheduled for interviews from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, and 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13.
Between noon and 4:15 p.m. that day, board members will discuss the candidates and call some back as needed.
Those interviews will be open to the public; however, they won't be televised.
Although board members might decide who they'd like to hire Jan. 13, a final hiring decision is expected to be made during the Jan. 19 board meeting.

Reporter Jeff Schmucker can be reached at 352-544-5271 or jschmucker@hernandotoday.com.

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