Superintendent search cut to 9

Hernando Today

BROOKSVILLE - Interim Superintendent Sonya Jackson and Hernando High School Principal Ken Pritz have survived another round of candidate eliminations for the Hernando County superintendent position.

Now it's up to school board members to decide whether they and seven other candidates will make the cut to be interviewed for the position.

During the superintendent search committee meeting Wednesday, members whittled the remaining 15 candidates to nine to be presented to school board members during their Tuesday, Dec. 8, meeting.

Joe Vitalo, chairman of the superintendent search committee, said there are now three Florida applicants out of the nine with the rest from Kentucky, New York, South Carolina and Illinois.

He said the final list consists of those who committee members believe have experience in higher education offices and whom school board members would be interested in interviewing.

They did not rank the candidates on who they felt were best suited for the position - instead leaving that also to school board members.

"We were instructed to not rank them at all," Vitalo said. "Committee members varied on their reasoning, but basically we eliminated candidates who worked for districts that were too small or those candidates who had moved around too much. Once we started to eliminate a few, we realized we were down to nine and figured we'd send the rest to the board."

Candidates for the superintendent position include:

• Jackson, who has a master's degree in education and stepped into the interim superintendent role following former superintendent Wayne Alexander's resignation in September. Before that, she was assistant superintendent of the district. She also served as executive director of school services. Other experience includes being a principal and dean of students.

• Pritz, who has a doctorate in education, was executive director of facility and support operations in Brooksville until last year when he took over the Hernando High School principal position.

• Gregory Adkins, chief negotiator and executive leader of the Division of Human Resources for Lee County School District. He lives in Fort Myers.

• Arnold Spadafora has lived in San Antonio since his retirement in 2008. He most recently served as associate superintendent of schools in Schenectady, N.Y.

• John R. Phillips most recently was director of university and school district partnerships at Claflin University in Orangeburg, S.C. He left that post in June.

• S. Jayne Risen Morgenthal was most recently superintendent of the Elizabeth Public School District in Elizabethtown, Ky.

• Bryan Blavatt, a retired superintendent from Union, Ky., who retired recently with 25 years of school administrative experience.

• I.V. Foster Jr., current Superintendent of Prairie-Hills Elementary School District 144 in Hazel Crest, Ill.

• Rose Terri McSweeney, a deputy superintendent with Shoreham Wading River Central School District. He lives in Huntington, New York.