Schools
School Board To Host Interviews For 3 Vying For Superintendent
The school board is expected to choose the new superintendent at the end of Tuesday's meeting.
TAMPA, FL — The Hillsborough County School Board will hold a special called school board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 2:30 p.m. in the School Board auditorium in downtown Tampa to interview the three finalists for the superintendent's position.
The school board is expected to choose the new superintendent at the end of the meeting.
The three finalists are Addison Davis, superintendent from Clay County; Don Haddad, superintendent from Longmont, Colorado; and Peter Licata, regional superintendent from Palm Beach County.
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See related story: Community Invited To Give Input On New School Superintendent
On Thursday, the Hillsborough County School Board narrowed down the list of candidates for the position from seven to three people following a full day of interviews discussing the candidates’ experience, qualifications and plans to continue the successes in Hillsborough County.
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One at a time, the semi-finalists were led to the board room and faced one question from each board member. The board member asked the same question of each candidate.
The questions centered around equity, communication and making difficult decisions. Finally, the candidates presented their 90-day plans.
In the end, the board voted on three candidates to move on to the final round.
“I’m really energetic, I’m enthusiastic, I love my job,” Davis said. “I care about children. I’m not here for politics, I’m not here about adults, I’m here to work every single day on behalf of one learner times 220,000! So it’s a great opportunity.”
“I’m a staunch advocate for public education and I think it’s such a critically important thing,” said Haddad. “A district of the size and stature of Hillsborough County Public Schools is something I believe not only we can influence here in Hillsborough and the state of Florida, but become a model for education, and public education, across the entire nation.
“This is the next step," said Licata. "I really believe I can make a bigger impact in a bigger place. Palm Beach is my home but this is a little bit bigger, and I really want to make an impact. I believe I can close the gap because there is an equity gap here.”
After the school board chose the finalists, the candidates participated in a meet-and-greet with more than 100 attending including teachers, principals, district personnel, parents and members of the community.
In September, the school district hired Ray and Associates to conduct a nationwide search for a new superintendent, contacting 1,219 people from 48 states for the position after current Superintendent Jeff Eakins, 54, announced he will retire in June after 31 years with the school district.
Eakins replaced former Superintendent MaryEllen Elia after she was fired in 2015.
Hillsborough County Public Schools is the seventh largest school district in the nation and is the largest employer in Hillsborough County with more than 24,000 employees.
The new superintendent will lead Hillsborough County schools at a time when the district has experienced gains in its graduations rates during the past five years. On Jan. 9, the state released graduation rates for Florida public high schools that showed Hillsborough County's graduation rate for 2018-19 was 86.2 percent, an all-time record high for the school district.
Hillsborough School District Achievements
- The district’s graduation rate has risen 12.7 percentage points over five years.
- African-American students have increased their graduation rate to 79.8 percent, up 19.8 percentage points since 2014.
- 893 more students earned a high school diploma than last year.
- The district's 27 traditional high schools have a graduation rate of 91.3 percent, an 11.7 percentage point increase from 79.6 percent five years ago (this number excludes alternative schools, charter schools and career centers). This is the third consecutive year traditional high schools have an 80 percent or higher graduation rate.
- Newsome High School had the district’s highest graduation rate at 98.7 percent.
- Plant City High School had the highest one-year graduation rate increase in 2019, jumping 3.6 percentage points to 96.8 percent.
- Hillsborough High School increased its graduation rate by 3.1 percentage points to 90.2 percent – the highest ever for this school.
- Middleton High School students increased their graduation rate by more than 29 percentage points over five years.
“I am so proud of our students, teachers and staff for their determination, which has now led to increasing our graduation rate for the fifth time in as many years,” said Eakins. “What is amazing is that our dedicated staff is making it happen with more students coming through our doors. Just five years ago, our district was graduating about 10,000 students a year. This past year, our district graduated 14,231 students, putting them on a path for a bright future.”
Since Eakins took the helm of Hillsborough County Public Schools, the graduation rate has steadily climbed from 73.5 percent in 2013-14, to 76 percent in 2014-15, to 79.1 percent in 2015-16, to 82.9 percent in 2016-17, 85.8 percent in 2017-18 and now 86.2 percent in 2018-19.
The public can watch the final interviews with candidates Tuesday on Hillsborough School Live TV.
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