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Hernando Today

Uncertainty Reigns At School District's Top Posts

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: January 12, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - if the district is one step closer to a search for a new superintendent.
A search committee for the Framingham, Mass. Public School system is slated to meet tonight to further narrow down a field of semifinalists for the top position there - and Hernando Superintendent Wayne Alexander could be among them. Alexander was one of four semifinalists interviewed Saturday by a search committee in Framingham.
He is looking for jobs in New England because of a visitation dispute surrounding his new wife and her two children, who still live in Connecticut.
Alexander wants to remain in Hernando County, he told the board in a letter last month. But he also wrote in the letter that he must show the courts that he's making an effort to get a job in New England. His goal, he wrote, is to convince the courts that no job could top his current position.
But Alexander, who is from Massachusetts, sounded enthusiastic when interviewing with the committee, according to a story by The St. Petersburg Times, which had a correspondent there.
"Being home is my No. 1 priority," Alexander told the board, according to the Times account.
Alexander declined to comment on his job search when contacted by Hernando Today Monday.
Phil Dinsky, chairman of the Framingham search committee, would not comment Monday on specific semifinalists. But he said all four "seem qualified."
Dinsky also said he and other members have read local newspaper accounts of Alexander's situation.
"We just try to ignore all those things and go on the face value of what people are saying," Dinsky said.
As for the local school board, member Sandra Nicholson said she believes Alexander is being forthright about his job search.
"I think he's kind of between a rock and hard place," Nicholson said. "He has to try to get a job. It's not easy when kids are involved."
The district can't do much until Alexander gives notification that he's got another job and will be leaving, Nicholson said.
If he makes the cut tonight, that would be several weeks from now. The two or three finalists will visit Framingham in the first week of February to tour the 8,000-student district and take questions from the public, Dinsky said. The committee will also vote that week.
The Hernando school board needs to be thinking now about plans if Alexander is tapped, said board member Pat Fagan.
Fagan said there are qualified people in the area to take over temporarily to give the school board ample time to pick a replacement.
"We need to take all the time we can to get the best person we possibly can," Fagan said.
Fagan said he expects the issue to come up during the board's next workshop slated for Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Finance director says goodbye this week
Meanwhile, the district is seeking applications to replace finance director Deborah Bruggink.
Bruggink's last day is Friday. She has taken a job as finance officer for the city of Ozark, Ala. to be closer to her elderly parents. She starts there Jan. 26.
Bruggink, who has worked in Florida for 28 years, says she's had "a lot of fun" during her four years in Hernando, despite the difficulties of balancing an ever-tighter budget.
Fagan praised Bruggink's "tremendous job" and her ability to boil down the complexities of school funding for the board and the public.
"I give her an A plus," Fagan said.
He and Nicholson admitted they worry about finding a replacement on a par with Bruggink.
Bruggink said the district's chief accounting officer Denise Coit will do a good job of keeping an eye on the finances until a successor is hired. Bruggink has also extended the offer to help out from afar.
"As soon as I start my job and have a telephone number, I'll let Denise know," she said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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