Monroe board narrows superintendent search to 11 semifinalists; schedules May 1 public interviews

The Monroe County School Board voted April 14 to advance 11 candidates as semifinalists in the district's superintendent search and set public finalist interviews for 9 a.m. May 1 at Marathon High School.

Florida School Boards Association consultant Andrea Messina told the board the applicant pool was "the most robust" in recent years: 32 applications from 11 states, including four sitting superintendents, three former superintendents and 17 applicants with doctoral degrees. Messina said semifinalists will be asked to respond to five questions and that semifinalist responses and accompanying community input will be provided to the board in advance of finalist selection.

The board approved the semifinalist list after a roll-call-style polling of individual board members during an earlier workshop. The list the board approved contains the following applicants (by number and name as read into the record): 8 Edward Tierney; 12 Dr. Michael George; 14 Dr. John Malay; 15 James Tager; 16 Laura Leitert; 17…