FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Broward County School Board voted Monday to advance seven semifinalists in the running to be the district’s new superintendent.
The semifinalist pool includes six external and one internal candidate:
- Peter Licata, regional superintendent, Palm Beach County school district
- Sito Narcisse, superintendent, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana school district
- Jason Nault, associate superintendent, Waukegan, Illinois school district
- Wanda Paul, chief operating officer, Houston school district; formerly of Palm Beach County school district
- Rita Raichoudhuri, former superintendent, Kalamazoo, Michigan school district
- Luis Solano, deputy superintendent, Detroit school district; former associate superintendent in Collier County and principal in Miami-Dade County schools
- Valerie Wanza, Broward County Public Schools acting chief of staff; former BCPS interim superintendent
Here’s how each board member voted. Lori Alhadeff, the school board chair, said she wants an outsider for the position, seemingly ruling out Wanza.
“I think it’s important for that person to come in, change the current culture here in Broward County Public Schools,” Alhadeff said.
School board member Allan Zeman called the seven candidates “very, very solid.”
“This is our 11th year of being a B-rated district and that should be lighting a fire under people to try some new and different things,” he said.
The board, unhappy with what one school board member described as a “junior varsity” slate of candidates, had reopened applications following an initial selection of four semifinalists.
Zeman hasn’t been shy about calling politics in Tallahassee an impediment for finding good candidates.
“The rules that traumatize LGBTQ people, that traumatize women in Florida, that have extended the ability for people to carry guns, these things all make it more difficult for a superintendent and a school system to be successful,” he said.
Semifinalists will all submit three-minute video responses to three pre-determined questions by noon Thursday, according to BCPS.
Board members will then review the clips and select the top finalists next Tuesday.
For more information on the district’s superintendent search, visit its website.