After a robust discussion at its meeting Wednesday, April 6, the Superintendent Search Citizens Committee narrowed the list of applicants for the position of Superintendent of Schools for Lee County down to eight individuals. The individuals identified (in the order their applications were received by the District) are:

• Leon Hobbs, president/CEO, Hobbs Leadership Team, Flowery Branch, Ga.

• Kamela Patton, assistant superintendent, Office of the Superintendent and District/School Operations, Miami-Dade County, Miami.

• Barbara McGann, executive director, Advanced Math & Science, Academy, Marlborough, Mass.

• Dennis Thompson, superintendent of schools, Collier County, Naples.

• Steven Cobb, chief academic officer, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Fort Wayne, Ind.

• Nancy Graham, principal, Naples High School, Naples.

• Constance Jones, chief academic officer, Lee County Public Schools, Fort Myers.

• Joe Burke, superintendent, Monroe County Schools, Key West, Fla.

The committee’s charge was to review the documentation provided by all applicants for the Superintendent’s position, use a set of qualifying criteria set by the School Board members, and choose the top individuals to move on in the process.

“The committee spent a lot of their own time reviewing nearly 500 pages of resumes, cover letters and other documents to narrow the list down to eight individuals,” said Georgiana McDaniel, director of personnel services.

“These eight were deemed to have the skills, abilities and experiences for them to move to the next phase of the process,” she said.

The committee was broken into eight smaller groups with each one “assigned” a candidate for them to conduct background checks and gather additional information.

The goal is for the committee to meet again Thursday, April 14 so the eight “sub-committees” can report out on what they uncovered about each candidate. Once the background information is shared, the committee will then narrow the list down to the top five or six candidates to recommend to the School Board members for consideration at a meeting to be led by Dr. Wayne Blanton, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association.

The Lee County School Board will then meet, taking into consideration the recommendations of the committee as well as any work they have done reviewing the candidate and will come to an agreement on which top five candidates they would like to extend an offer to interview for the superintendent’s position.