Broward County Public School’s search for a new superintendent yielded 26 applicants, but only four meet the job’s requirements.
Lori Alhadeff, the chair of the Broward County School Board, said on Tuesday that she was ready to continue with the selection process.
“I want somebody who knows what they are getting into, somebody who has done their homework, and I believe that we can find that person,” Alhadeff said.
Torey Alston, one of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s appointees to the Broward School Board, said it was not an easy task because he and his colleagues were having to deal with a “junior varsity” list of “weak” applicants.
“I am not thrilled where we are in terms of the pool,” Alston said adding, “I would have loved to have started with a qualified pool that probably was a lot larger.”
Debi Hixon, a Broward School Board member, said there are reasons why the job is not attractive.
One of them, Hixon said, was the “huge” impact that Florida’s political climate has had. Amid the board’s split on whether or not to pause the search, Alston disagreed.
“I am not inclined to pause,” Allen Zeman, a Broward School Board member, said about the search. “I want people to know Broward County does what it says it’s going to do.”
The school board members are scheduled to meet Tuesday to decide if the search will continue.