HYA, the firm conducting Marion County's superintendent search, delivered Phase 1 materials to the school board on Dec. 1, presenting a 37-page leadership profile, detailed survey results and a two-page summary designed to guide recruitment.

The consultants told the board they gathered roughly 2,328 combined focus-group and survey responses from staff, students, parents, administrators and other stakeholders but cautioned the sample was not a scientific poll and responses may overlap. "We did interview or focused or had focus group meetings with 276 individuals," a lead consultant said, and the consultants provided breakdowns that included about 658 non-administrator staff responses, 616 student responses and 552 parent/guardian responses.

Why it matters: The documents condense community input about the district's strengths and weaknesses and list the most-requested qualities for Marion County's next superintendent. The board said it will use those materials to decide whether to continue a national search or pause to refine local priorities.

HYA highlighted district strengths including community engagement and staff dedication; consultants also flagged challenges: fiscal stability concerns, uneven growth and facility needs, staff recruitment and retention pressures, inconsistent discipline practices, low staff morale in some areas and political pressure from state-level policy changes. "The single strongest consensus: the next superintendent must build trust, respect, and a positive professional climate," one HYA presenter said.

On specific survey findings, HYA reported that school safety, engagement with diverse groups and effective staffing were the highest-rated items (54%, 51%, 51% respectively) while readiness for AI tools and AI integration ranked low across respondents (21% and 26% reported confidence). Fiscal responsibility rated 36% in top-two categories; in discussion board members tied that perception to the district's recent $64 million shortfall and urged better public explanation of the causes.

Board members noted gaps in community outreach and response. "If people are really, really unhappy, they come out," an HYA consultant said when asked why some community meetings had low attendance. Board member Reverend Cummings questioned whether sessions were adequately publicized; others said staff promotion increased survey take-up late in the response window.

Public commenters included Deborah Velez, chief operating officer of the Marion County Hospital District, who asked the board to clarify that an early challenge tied to rolling out school fitness and nutrition programming had since expanded into a county-wide effort and praised the district's partnership with the hospital. Jerome Gamble, president of the Marion County NAACP, used his public comment time to publicly endorse interim superintendent Dr. Brewer as a candidate for the permanent role.

On next steps, the board debated whether to authorize HYA to immediately recruit against the desired-characteristics materials or to pause until the board finalizes a job description. HYA said it is standard practice to advertise using the summary materials in hand and can include a compensation range if the board provides one, but the board may also opt to wait.

The board reached a practical, nonbinding decision on a drafting detail: members agreed by consensus to remove two compensation lines from the desired-characteristics document for now, with the option to restore compensation details if they later choose a national search. "We will remove the compensation component for now," the board chair said, clarifying that compensation could be added back if recruitment proceeds.

The board set a work session for Dec. 18 to discuss and edit the superintendent job description and to receive a high-level, year-over-year summary of PM2 testing data before deciding whether to proceed with an advertised national search. District staff said PM2 testing begins that day, most sites will start testing the following day, and a summative, high-level report can be provided to the board shortly before the Dec. 18 meeting; school-by-school detail will take longer to compile.

The meeting closed with calendar reminders and brief board reports; no formal motion was recorded to start a nationwide search on Dec. 1.

Next step: the board will convene Dec. 18 for the job-description discussion and to review the PM2 testing summary prior to any decision about a national recruitment effort.