Osceola schools leader: It’s a new era
The Osceola County school district, marked in recent years by School Board infighting and superintendent turnover, this week turned the page with the installation of a pair of new board members.
But in their first order of business, those new additions — Tim Weisheyer and Kelvin Soto — backed longtime board member Jay Wheeler as chairman. Wheeler, an acerbic critic of past and present colleagues, has said he’ll tone downhis rhetoric. But will he be able to unify the board and bring stability to a district that must choose its third superintendent since 2011?
Speaking to the Sentinel after his election, Wheeler pledged an immediate change in climate.
“The first priority is sending out the message that the culture of fear, intimidation, reprisal and micromanagement is over,” he said, referring to his viewof just-departed former board memberCindyHartig’s leadership style. “Results, keeping kids challenged and academic excellence are going to be the benchmarks.”
Other top priorities for Wheeler include increasing digital access in schools, preparing students for the upcoming Common Core State Standards and giving highschoolers who don’t plan to go to college better options.
“We need to focus on technical education with industry standards so students can get jobs at a living wage with health insurance,” he said.
A key decision awaiting the new board is the selection of a permanent superintendent.
Wheeler praised current interimSuperintendentMelbaLuciano andsaidhehopesshe’ll bea candidate for the permanent job. But he said he favors a national search.
“If there’s a superstar out there, I think we’d be remiss in not interviewing the most qualified candidates we can,” he said.
Soto, who nominated Wheeler for chairman, cited his skills and knowledge from 10 years on the board, as well as his assurances that he would be more temperate in his approach.
“Right now he has a great opportunity to move forward and deal with the issues of children’s education and not go back,” Soto said. However, he did concede: “It is a leap of faith. … I think Jay can do it.”
Tom Long, the only board member to vote against Wheeler as chairman, was dismayed with the choice. At Monday’s meeting he ran through a litany of past Wheeler misdeeds, including storming out of meetings, demeaning fellow board members and being fined $17,000 for state election-law violations. He also noted that previous attempts at extending an olive branch to his combative colleague had been rejected.
“Rewarding Mr. Wheeler with the chairmanship of this board sends out the wrong message,” Long said.
For his part, Wheelersoundeda half-optimistic, half-cautionary note on how the board will get along with him at the helm.
“If they put kids first, we’ll get along just great,” he said. “If they want to micromanage and tell board members what to do, it’ll probably be unpleasant for them.”