School Superintendent Candidates "Meet The Press"
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) - The two men selected as finalists for the Superintendent of Schools position in Broward met the press on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Broward School Board whittled down a pool of five candidates to two after a series of first round interviews.
The finalists are Robert Runcie and Dr. Bernard Taylor.
Runcie is currently the chief of staff at Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school district in the nation. His track record includes shutting down poor performing school and removing ineffective principals and teachers. He's been credited with implementing technology into the schools while reducing costs.
What makes him different is he was at one time a small business owner who did consulting. He's never been a teacher or principal.
Runcie is up against Dr. Bernard Taylor Jr. Taylor has been the superintendent in Grand Rapids since 2006. His resume includes reorganizing staff and outsourcing bus service to save the district millions. Prior to that he worked in Kansas City as a superintendents where he helped the district regain accreditation. Taylor also served as an elementary principal charged with turning around the lowest performing school in the district
Taylor was in the running Syracuse and Cleveland but was passed up.
On Tuesday they participated in a "Meet the Press" news conference event at the Kathleen C. Wright Administration Center in Ft. Lauderdale. Each finalist will be given 10 to 15 minutes to interact with reporters as board members observe their performance.
Tuesday evening they will answered the public's questions at a forum at Broward College in Coconut Creek.
The public forum was moderated by a representative from the Superintendent Search firm Ray and Associates, Inc., who will ask each finalist questions developed from submitted questions and input obtained from stakeholders. The public forum will also be live streamed on the District's website at (www.browardschools.com).
The District received 47 applications for the position of Superintendent of Schools and narrowed its search to six semi-finalists on August 29. One candidate withdrew from consideration reducing the pool to five semi-finalists.
Following Wednesday's second round of interviews, the School Board is expected to name a new Superintendent of Schools to lead the nation's sixth largest school district.
He will replace Jim Notter who resigned in June.
