Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Wayne Gent is stepping down later this year.
On the Palm Beach County School Board’s meeting agenda today: How much power to give a community panel that’s supposed to help board members choose a new superintendent.
Business leaders are pushing for a newly created community advisory committee to have a greater role, arguing that it should help to create a list of finalists for the superintendent job after screening candidates.
Some board members have expressed concern about giving a citizen panel too much of an official role in narrowing the list of applicants, though.
The Economic Council of Palm Beach County wants the 15-member panel, which will be appointed by professional groups, unions and community groups, to screen applicants and give the board a list of finalists for the position.
Economic Council President Daniel Martell told Extra Credit that under the proposal, the school board would still have the ability to add or subtract candidates from the committee’s shortlist, or to disregard it entirely.
“The board members can dismiss it, they can accept it, they can add to it, they can do whatever they want,” Martell said.
He said that the next superintendent “needs to be representative of the community at large.”
Some board members could push for the advisory committee to have a strictly advisory role, however, leaving the actual decision-making entirely to the school board itself.
Superintendent Wayne Gent announced last month that he will step down later this year. He has applied for the top schools job in St. Lucie County.
