St. Johns County is regarded as one of Florida’s best school districts — but it’s not for everyone.
A consultant hired to help the district replace Superintendent Tim Forson at the end of the school year told the St. Johns County School Board that the process is fraught with challenges.
Andrea Messina, chief executive officer at the Florida School Boards Association, relayed what likely lies ahead in filling one of the county’s most critical positions.
Messina said the pool of administrators interested in becoming superintendents has dried up across the country due to sharpened political divides that often spill into school board meetings.
“In the last five years, the desire of highly skilled educational professionals willing to serve as superintendent has diminished,” Messina said. “The willingness to put their family and career at risk due to what we’ve seen across the state and across the nation. Some things have happened to superintendents — it has made a lot of people question if they want to move into that role.”
Messina said districts have had to increase their superintendent salaries to compensate for these apprehensions. Forson’s most recent salary stood at $174,000.
Hiring a Florida superintendent, she said, comes with its own unique challenges.
Some administrators, she said, are uncomfortable with the Sunshine State’s political climate.
One potential candidate from out of state, she said, declined to apply.
“She said ‘I’m not willing to move to Florida at this time,'” Messina said. “I need things to temper down there before I’m willing to apply.”
But others — presumably more right-leaning — are attracted to Florida’s red tint she said.
“There are some people from out of state who want to move to Florida because they like the climate here, political and weatherwise, and there are others who won’t apply because they don’t like the climate political or otherwise,” she said.
Counterintuitively, Messina said the district’s sterling metrics and reputation are unattractive to some candidates.
Administrators in that pool, she explained, see it as too “high functioning” and not a place where they can make an appreciable impact. They may also prefer an urban environment as opposed to suburban demographics.
Pursuing a superintendent position, Messina said, is a delicate matter because applicant names are made public once their materials are submitted, which can alienate colleagues in their existing district.
But despite the hurdles, Messina said she expects a formidable crop of resumes to select from as Forson steps down after 36 heralded years in the district.
