Brevard Public Schools hosting forums, survey in superintendent search
Brevard Public Schools is reaching out to the community for feedback as they search for a new permanent superintendent.
A survey has been posted online, where participants can answer multiple choice questions about the qualities they are looking for in the next superintendent. It will be open for feedback through Feb. 17.
Additionally, four community forums will be held in February throughout the county, starting Monday.
Following former superintendent Mark Mullins' dismissal by the school board in November, Robert Schiller was chosen to step in as interim superintendent in December. The school consultant, who has served as a superintendent in multiple districts around the country officially, began his tenure as of Jan. 1.
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All community members are invited to participate in the survey and forums, said Russell Bruhn, a spokesperson for the district.
“Parents, employees and students are maybe most impacted, but Brevard schools impact the entire county, whether you have children who attend our schools or not,” Bruhn said.
“We wanted our entire community to be part of this very important process.”
The survey is available on the front page of Brevard Public Schools' website or at this direct link.
Forum locations and dates:
Bayside High School — Feb. 6, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Satellite High School — Feb. 7, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Titusville High School — Feb. 8, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Rockledge High School — Feb. 13, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Past Brevard superintendents
Brian Binggeli, 2009-2015. Among his first actions, Binggeli tackled a $12 million deficit in the health insurance trust fund that resulted in teachers having to pay higher premiums. He cut about $18 million from the operating budget, oversaw changes in school zones to address the thousands of empty school seats across the county and overcrowding in some schools, and pushed for a half-cent sales tax, one rejected by voters in 2012 but approved in 2014. Binggeli left Brevard for the superintendent role in the Plano Independent School District in Texas, stepping down in 2017 – less than a week after BPS reached a settlement over a software system which Binggeli helped purchase back in 2013 and which cost taxpayers $5.9 million.
Desmond Blackburn, 2015-2018. A longtime educator, Blackburn was previously chief of school performance and accountability in the Broward County School District. Under Blackburn, the Brevard school system restructured district operations; scaled back teacher evaluations and district-mandated testing; moved to in-house legal counsel; developed a new discipline policy; and helped pass a non-discrimination policy for LGBTQ students and staff. Blackburn stepped down in 2018 to take a job as CEO of the national education profit New Teacher Center, is now deputy chancellor of school leadership for the New York City Department of Education.
Mark W. Mullins, 2018–2022. Mullins' career with Brevard Public Schools began in 1994. Starting as a math teacher at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, he rose through the ranks as an assistant principal of Southwest Middle School and Palm Bay High School and then the principal of the now-closed Clearlake Middle School. He served an area superintendent and then as the district’s chief operating officer before being hired to replace Desmond Blackburn. In November 2022, after a contentious election season and an ideological shift at the school board, newly elected board members along with new chair Matt Susin debated Mullins' future before Mullins agreed to step down from his job.
Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard schools superintendent search: How to take part
