- April 18, 2024
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The Flagler County School Board has started advertising for the position of school superintendent. Current Superintendent Janet Valentine, who had a stroke last month, will not return to her position, School Board members said.
School Board Chairman Andy Dance asked School District Attorney Kristy Gavin to look into the possibility of buying out Valentine’s contract, which will expire on June 30, and suggested the board appoint Assistant Superintendent Jacob Oliva as superintendent for at least an interim term of nine months.
“Mr. Oliva’s been seamlessly transitioning into the top leadership position,” he said. “I think it would be of benefit to the district moving forward going ahead with an interim contract, especially knowing that Ms. Valentine’s not coming back.”
Dance said Valentine’s absence had changed the district’s circumstances.
“There’s a void, and the longer we extend that void, the harder for the district,” he said.
He suggested the board could also consider scrapping the condensed timeline for selecting a candidate, and return to the original proposed timeline, in which a new superintendent would be selected in late March instead of early February.
The board shortened the timeline so that the new superintendent could attend state superintendent training in St. Petersburg, scheduled for Feb. 12-14.
“In retrospect, I don’t think it’s as important that we have the candidates selected to go to this training,” Dance said. “It may have even been jumping the gun a little bit.”
If the board decided to extend the timeline, Dance said, Oliva could attend the training.
School Board Vice Chairwoman Colleen Conklin also supported abandoning the condensed timeline.
“I’m uncomfortable with the rushed timeline. Things have changed, whether we like it or not. The circumstances we find ourselves in now are different than they were,” she said. “If we’re going to do a committee like we’ve already started, let’s be sure to do this right. Let’s be genuine and authentic about it.”
School Board Member Sue Dickinson disagreed.
“The bottom line is we agreed that this was going to be our timeline,” she said. Dickinson said the board should either stick with the timeline it already set, or go ahead and appoint Oliva.
School Board Member John Fischer said that when the district hired Oliva, his understanding was that Oliva would serve as a successor for Valentine.
“At that time, the words used were a ‘succession-type plan,’ that if something happened or when her contract was up, he’d go in and take that position,” Fischer said. “But, when we committed to this search, we as a board made that decision.”
Fischer said he favored continuing with the shortened timeline and posting the ad for the position Wednesday, as planned.
School Board member Trevor Tucker said the board would seem “wishy-washy” to the public for waffling on the shortened timeline and said the board should either stick with it or go ahead and appoint Oliva.
“I just want something to be resolved, period. And we don’t look back anymore,” Tucker said.
The consensus of the board was 3-2 in favor of continuing with the condensed timeline.
The district is seeking applicants who have a master’s degree in school administration and at least 10 years of experience in public education in a medium or large school district recognized as high-performing under state standards. The position will pay $125,000 to $135,000.
In other business Tuesday night, Oliva announced that the district has received news that Flagler Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School have both received “A” grades from the state. Matanzas High School had an A in 2012, and Flagler Palm Coast High School had a B.
The board also voted 3-0 to approve a contract with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to offer a free college-credit class on unmanned aerial vehicles at Flagler Palm Coast High School. The district will pay the university $1,800 for the class, which will start in January. Tucker was absent during the vote, and Conklin abstained from voting because she has accepted a job at the university.
FTI building: worth more dead than alive?
The Flagler Technical Institute property is worth $1,350,000, according to an appraisal commissioned by the school, but the land itself, without the building, is worth more: $1,550,000.
The building has a number of structural problems, and the board had planned to shut it down in June.
But in a School Board workshop Tuesday evening, the board discussed the possibility of extending its use for another year.
School Board Chairman Andy Dance said he thought the district might be able to make some essential repairs and keep using the building, even if the district does decide to sell it.
“The building does have its issues, but it’s not falling apart at the seams,” he said. “I’m interested in what the minimal cost would be to patch the leaks and get another year out of it.”
Keeping the building in use would make it more attractive for prospective buyers, he said.
The district owes more than $1 million on the property.
Dickinson said she wouldn’t be able to make a decision on extending use of the property without knowing where the programs now offered there would go if the building closed.
The board did not come to a decision and will discuss the building again at future meetings.
