News

Public to get say on search

Jeff Schmucker
Published: December 9, 2012

BROOKSVILLE - Those who didn't get a chance to sit on the superintendent search committee or have yet to put their two cents in on the current hunt for a new school district CEO will be given a chance next week.

A special meeting has been designated for citizen input to the board as to what attributes the next Hernando County School District leader should have. The meeting is at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school board office.

Already 17 have applied for the post, and district officials plan to continue accepting applications until the end of December.

School Board Chairman Matt Foreman said Thursday the format to accept public ideas will likely be similar to how the group organizes public comment during regular public meetings.

However, he said while the board would likely try to keep speakers to talking to the board for three minutes, that rule isn't likely to be heavily enforced.

"It's an open meeting and if somebody has a point they're trying to get across, I'm not going to try to cut them off because they hit the three-minute mark," Foreman said. "At the end of the day, we're trying to do our duty as elected officials to get solid feedback from our constituents. And we have a superintendent search committee, but there are other folks who didn't get on that committee and should be afforded an opportunity to get their thoughts out there as well."

In December, Bryan Blavatt announced that this school year would be his last, saying he would like to retire and allow someone new to take over the district leadership.

School board members recently approved for applications for the $100,000- to $130,000-salaried superintendent post to be collected between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30.

However, due to disagreements of whether applicants should be required to have a specific degree in education, the advertisement for the posting will now go on for another month — with applications accepted from those with at least a master's degree.

An 11-member search committee will then review those applications and give recommendations to board members in February.

jschmucker@hernandotoday.com (352) 544-5271