GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – The Clay County School Board is preparing for the worst when it comes to filling its soon-to-be-vacant superintendent position.
On Thursday night, the School Board will vote on whether or not to move forward with an amendment that would allow the board to appoint its own interim superintendent in the event that the governor takes too long to name an interim appointee.
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The move comes after Superintendent Addison Davis was selected last month as the next superintendent of Hillsborough County schools, the seventh-largest school district in the country.
Davis could take the job as soon as March, the Tampa Bay Times reported, which would leave it up to Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint an interim superintendent to fill in until a permanent superintendent is elected in November.
School Board member Carol Studdard told News4Jax on Thursday afternoon she doesn’t see a problem with putting a policy in place to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
“My hope is that it will never be used,” she said, adding that she is confident that Gov. DeSantis will appoint an interim superintendent soon.
Studdard said she’s hearing that Davis could submit his resignation before the end of February after his new contract with Hillsborough is settled.
Board member Janice Kerekes, who proposed the amendment, was not immediately available for comment.
The amendment will be voted on during a Thursday school board meeting at 6 p.m. in Green Cove Springs.
If approved, the school board would advertise the amendment and then vote to formally adopt the proposed amendments to its policies following a public hearing on March 12.
So far, three candidates have filed to run for Clay County superintendent in November — Aaron Smith, Melanie Walls and former Clay County superintendent Charlie Van Zant.
