Manatee school board wants fast process to find new superintendent

The School Board of Manatee County members have come up with a timeline to hire a new superintendent and have that person be in place early in the 2025-26 school year.

School Board Member Chad Choate said consulting firms who have put in bids to help with the search have described that desire as an aggressive timeline. Even so, the board members want to conduct interviews with the top three candidates July 7-15.

The school board chose to hire the law firm of Dye Harrison Knowles Kirkland Pratt & DePaola, PLLC to help receive and organize applications received for the superintendent position. Stephen Dye is the board's attorney.

Along with the help from the law firm, the board members also plan to hire Bill Vogel, who was superintendent of Seminole County Schools and St. Lucie County Schools. Vogel works as an independent consultant and was heavily involved in the last superintendent search as well, which is why Board Member Cindy Spray thought it was a good idea to hire him again. 

“He's a former superintendent, and he's got a lot of knowledge about that, so I think he would be a good option for us,” Spray said.

For the last superintendent search in which Jason Wysong was ultimately hired, the interview process was split into two days. The current board expects to use a similar process with tentative dates of July 9 and 10 for the main interviews. 

“The first day (board members) did the individual interviews (of the candidates), and then they also went out and toured the schools,” Choate said. “The second day they did the public interview in front of us.”

Choate said the public will have sort of meet and greet with the candidates like they did during the last superintendent search. As each candidate applies for the position, all of their cover letters will be put on the district website so the general public will be able to weigh the candidates and provide feedback.

Kennedy recommended that with the approval of the board, he would like to do some sort of live Q and A with the candidates. 

“I want to see the candidates on their feet," Kennedy said. "That's a big part of the job — decision making and dealing with multiple things coming at you at once.”

The school board voted 3-2 to fire Jason Wysong May 20. Board members cited communication problems with Wysong despite acknowledging students in the district as a whole had shown positive improvements in academics since Wysong took over in May 2023.

Kevin Chapman was chosen as interim superintendent on May 20. Legally, there has to be a superintendent in place at all times.

Chapman’s contract was finalized on May 29 with a contract that calls for a termination date of Jan. 5, 2026 or until the board installs another replacement for the position. The contract calls for wages of $19,500 per month.