Fulton County school Superintendent Robert Avossa, who had his contract extended in October, has applied to lead a school system on Florida’s east coast.
Avossa is one of four candidates with metro Atlanta ties interested in becoming the next superintendent of the Palm Beach County School District. The others are former Georgia superintendents John Barge and Kathy Cox and Atlanta Public Schools associate superintendent Timothy Gadson III.
The Palm Beach Post wrote about the list of 72 candidates Friday. Palm Beach is the nation's 11th largest school district, with about 183,000 students.
In a letter to the Palm Beach search committee, Avossa cited his "political acumen" working in a district with 13 cities to make the case he's the best candidate for the job. He said Fulton has the highest graduation rates among Georgia's largest school systems and it has the second highest average SAT score. Fulton is Georgia's fourth-largest school district, with about 96,300 students, 101 schools, 10,500 full-time employees and an $878 million general fund budget.
“Under my leadership, Fluton County Schools has become a leader in both our state and the nation,” Avossa wrote.
Avossa’s current annaul salary and benefits package totals $343,990.
In response to his application for the Palm Beach job, Avossa said in an interview Monday he’s “exploring some options.”
Avossa, who still has a full two years left on his contract, said Fulton school board members have been aware of his interest in the position. He declined to go into detail about why he’s applying for the Palm Beach job. He said it’s the first position he’s formally applied for since becoming Fulton’s superintendent nearly four years ago.
He said a recruiting firm which searches for superintendent job candidates for schools across the U.S. approached him in recent weeks about the Palm Beach job.
“It’s way too early for me to share anything more than I’m a candidate,” Avossa said.
Before coming to Fulton, Avossa served as chief strategy and accountability officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina. Before that, he spent more than a decade in Florida as a teacher and principal. Avossa holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, both from the University of South Florida, and a doctorate from Wingate University in North Carolina.
Barge, who was superintendent from 2011 to 2014, wrote to the Palm Beach search committee that his experience as a teacher, principal and superintendent gave him the "skill set" to run the Palm Beach district.
“In fact, it is these very different leadership experiences that have provided me the skill set that the Palm Beach County School District is looking for in their next Superintendent,” Barge said.
Cox, chief executive officer of the U.S. Education Delivery Institute, a Washington-based think tank, was state superintendent from 2003 to 2010.
Gadson has been an Atlanta associate superintendent for less than a year. He was the director of high school operations in the Austin, Texas school district and spent a decade in the Palm Beach district as a teacher and assistant principal.
"I offer demonstrated leadership ability, a commitment to improving students' academic achievement and well-developed organizational and administrative skills," Gadson said in his application letter.
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