• Harold Border current chief of Orange County High Schools in Florida;
• Frederick Heid current superintendent, Community Unit School District in Algonquin, Illinois;
• James McIntyre, Jr. assistant professor of practice and director of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville;
• Michael Ramirez deputy superintendent of Denver Public Schools in Colorado;
• Nakia Towns deputy superintendent of Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee
About a dozen or so people attended the interview sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, while about four dozen people gathered for Thursday evening’s meet and greet at the Jim Miles Center in Highland City.
LAKELAND James McIntyre, Jr., is currently the director of the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Tennessee and an assistant professor. Previously, he was the superintendent of Knox County Schools in Knoxville, Tennessee. I m a big proponent of making sure our highest priority is ensuring high-level learning in every classroom,” said McIntyre. “I m really a big proponent of evaluation.”
McIntyre, 53, said effective evaluation of a teacher involves starting with an example of what good teaching looks like and then going into the classroom with the principal and instructional coaches. When the lesson is over, he said, the teacher and evaluators can have a conversation about what they saw in the classroom, what went well and what they thought could have gone better.
The next superintendent s three-year contract will have a start date of July 1, 2021, with a transition period in May and June. The salary ranges from $215,000 to $275,000, plus competitive benefits.
The candidates’ schedules this week will consist of interviews with the full board on either Wednesday or Thursday. When not being interviewed, candidates will be given a tour of the county and several schools, along with breakfasts, lunches and dinners with School Board members and prominent Polk County residents.
The candidates scheduled to be interviewed on Wednesday, April 21 are:
Harold R. Border, 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
James P. McIntyre, 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.