School Board Delays Superintendent Search, Offers Contract To Deputy

By Matt Wiley

The Hillsborough County School Board will move to offer its current deputy superintendent a new contract at its March 3 meeting to at least temporarily replace recently ousted superintendent of schools MaryEllen Elia, whose contract was bought out by the Board in January for $1.1 million. The Board also voted unanimously to delay a nationwide search for a new, permanent superintendent.

During the February 17 Board meeting, members voted unanimously (7-0) to offer a contract to and appoint current deputy superintendent Jeffrey Eakins, 49, as the interim superintendent of the Hillsborough County School District (HCSD), the eighth largest district in the U.S., at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday, March 3.

Elia’s last official day is March 5, after which Eakins will take over as superintendent, although for how long has not yet been determined. The District staff was tasked with drawing up a contract before the Mar. 3 meeting. Eakins initially was to take over as interim superintendent while the Board conducted a national search that would have potentially installed a new permanent superintendent by late June, but now Eakins will be offered the position for a longer period. Hiring a search firm could have cost the District $40,000, plus the salary of a new superintendent. Elia made nearly $290,000 annually without benefits.

The motion to offer Eakins the position was brought forth by Dist. 2 Board member Sally Harris, who said it would provide stability to the District moving forward. 

“We need to know who is leading this District,” Harris told her fellow Board members during the Feb. 17 discussion. Harris stressed that hiring Eakins (photo) as superintendent and adding the word “interim” to his title makes his position appear weaker.

“We should hire (Eakins) as superintendent so that he can make decisions and move this District forward,” Harris said.

Board members were expected to vote about whether or not to hire a firm to search for a new superintendent during the meeting, but Harris’ motion sparked a different conversation.

Although the details of Eakins’ contract had not been decided at our press time, Dist. 7 School Board member Carol Kurdell urged the Board to consider a two-year contract. “If you want stability, do two years,” Kurdell said. “Eakins listens and he gets the job done.”

Dist. 3 Board member Cindy Stuart, who represents New Tampa’s schools, said the decision to hire a firm felt rushed. “These searches need to be well-planned,” Stuart said. “I think Eakins is best for the job. (Hiring Eakins) is a reasonable, sensible, prudent thing to do.”

During the Board’s workshop on Feb. 10 to discuss the search for a new superintendent, Stuart also emphasized taking more time before initiating a nationwide search. “We need more time to reach out to the community,” Stuart said. “It’s aggressive to be looking at March 3 for voting on a search firm when we don’t know what the community wants. We need to be realistic about the timeline.”

Dist. 6 Board member April Griffin also expressed concern about the quick time frame to hire a firm and a new superintendent during the workshop.

“We can bring Mr. Eakins in with a contract and really put time into a search instead of rushing into it,” Griffin said, adding that she thought it would be a good idea to conduct community meetings to gather input from constituents about whether to hire from within or conduct a national search. The idea of a community survey was presented.

However, Dist. 4 Board member Melissa Snively took issue with reaching out to the community.

“If we do something different than what we’re told (by constituents), they’re going to think we’re not listening,” Snively said. “I think we’d be sticking our necks out there. We didn’t do a survey to terminate (Elia’s contract). I missed that survey. Why are we doing one now?”

Stay tuned to the New Tampa Neighborhood News as we continue to cover this developing story.