Sarasota residents want school board to put education over politics as superintendent search gets underway
SARASOTA, Fla. - The Sarasota County School District took a major step Monday toward choosing its new superintendent, hosting its first of four community town hall meetings.
The superintendent search is being conducted by an independent consulting company that specializes in this type of process, which allows community members to fill out online surveys. The company is gathering feedback and will put together a list of potential candidates that will be presented to the school board.
Tom Edwards was the only school board member to attend the meeting at Venice High School Monday.
"From my perspective, I'm on a listening tour. I want to listen to the cabinet. I want to listen to teachers," Edwards told FOX 13.
The school board agreed to part ways with the previous superintendent, Dr. Brennan Asplen, in December.
Dr. Brennan Asplen parted ways with the school district last year.
Critics said the decision was politically motivated following the November election that saw the board flip from a Democratic to Republican majority.
Members who wanted to move on from Asplen, however, have indicated they believed a fresh start was necessary.
The political divisiveness continued this month, when the board considered hiring Vermilion Education, a consulting company that had only been around for about four months and, according to critics, had ties to a conservative Christian college. Dozens of community members gathered last week to protest a potential contract with Vermilion, which ultimately was rejected by the board.
Residents attend a town hall meeting to discuss a new superintendent.
This followed several other contentious meetings during the last few years regarding issues including mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, critical race theory.
Edwards is worried about how this type of political divisiveness will impact the superintendent search.
"I'm concerned that we're not going to see the quality and quantity of candidates that we need to see in order to run in a school district and those kinds of comments that don't pertain to academic achievement and student outcomes could scare away the best possible candidates," he said, adding he hopes the new superintendent will building on the district's successes as an A-rated district.
This is the first in a series of town halls to discuss a new superintendent.
"We have a solid strategic plan that a good superintendent [can] come in and offer how to finesse it, how to refine it, and how to make it better, not how to trash it and start over."
The next town hall meeting will be held Tuesday night at Booker High School.
The Sarasota School Board parted ways with its superintendent at the end of 2022.
Two more town halls will take place next week on May 8 at Riverview High School and on May 9 and North Port High School.
All town hall meetings are scheduled from 7-9 p.m.