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School board comes to consensus for two superintendent search firms

By MEGHAN BRADBURY - | Jun 22, 2021

The School Board of Lee County came to a consensus of two search firms, each of which will be asked to provide a presentation to the board with public comment to be included in the process.

Ray and Associates, Inc. and Florida School Board Association were chosen as the top two firms from among the five that applied.

The FSBA flat consultation fee is $30,000; the base fee for the performance of the superintendent search for Ray and Associates, Inc. is $26,000.

Ray and Associates received an unanimous consensus from the board, while FSBA had board members Betsy Vaughn, Gwyn Gittens and Melisa Giovannelli opposed.

The board members opposed shared concern of a possible conflict of interest as Board Member Chris Patricca is the president of FSBA.

Vaughn stated Patricca has close association with the group.

“She may have influence with the group in terms of the kinds of people they put forth to us and it concerns me,” she said.

Board members Mary Fischer, Debbie Jordan and Patricca voted FSBA as their top choice according to the rubric they used for the submissions.

“I see no conflict at all. Lee County having a representative that has an officer for FSBA for a year should have nothing to do with a superintendent search,” Fischer said. “I would not support the elimination of their consideration because of their expertise with superintendent searches and knowledge of Florida law.”

Patricca said it was offensive to hear from her colleagues that they believe there is a conflict of interest, as it questions her ethics.

“I have never used my personal influence on anyone under any circumstance. The suggestion it would be a conflict of interest illustrates to me the lack of understanding of my role with FSBA,” she said.

Some of the areas in which the rubric will focus on to determine the firm of choice to help with the permanent superintendent search include broad range of expertise and services, experience in bringing diverse candidates, budget and pricing, process including each step and clarity of role and expectations, stakeholder engagement – specific to the board and specific to the community, expertise specific to district and size and consultant lead on the search.