St. Johns school board workshop outlines superintendent search timeline, survey and finalist interview plans

The St. Johns County School Board discussed plans for its superintendent search at a workshop where consultants from the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) presented a draft community survey, outreach strategy and a multi-stage timeline for recruiting and interviewing candidates.

“the sole item for discussion this morning is the superintendent search,” Board Chair Mister Coleman said, opening the session. FSBA CEO Andrea Messina and her superintendent-search team walked the board through a color‑coded draft of candidate characteristics and survey questions that the board had pre-ranked.

Board members and FSBA staff said the online survey will be open Jan. 20 through Feb. 14 and ask respondents to pick their top three priorities in each of several categories. Andrea Messina said the survey will be distributed through the district’s superintendent‑search portal, the district and school websites, social media, QR codes, mass notifications and paper copies at schools for those who do not use digital channels. "We will provide your team with an embed link, which they'll know how to use, a QR code, all of the above so that people can use it different ways," Messina said.

The board agreed to use the survey results plus structured focus groups and community forums to refine the job description and the qualifications it will advertise. FSBA recommended a combination of large public forums (open to anyone) and…