LAKELAND, Fla. — The search for the next superintendent of Polk County Public Schools is over.
Board members on Tuesday voted unanimously to select Fred Heid, the superintendent at the Community Unit School District in Algonquin, Illinois, as the district's next leader.
Heid previously held the title of chief academic officer at Duval County Public Schools, bureau chief school improvement at the Florida Department of Education and principal positions at Orange County Public Schools, according to his resume.
He, too, was a teacher at Booker Middle School in Sarasota, Florida.
Heid holds a bachelor's in secondary education and a master's in educational leadership from the University of South Florida. He has completed coursework for a doctorate in educational administration from Capella University and is working on a doctorate in leadership in educational administration from Aurora University.
The search has been on for almost a year since Superintendent Jacqueline M. Byrd announced her retirement last spring. The district – one of the Top 30 largest in the U.S. – announced more than 50 people submitted applications for the job.
School board members, helped by a volunteer committee in identifying the candidates, voted unanimously to consider seven people.
The Lakeland Ledger reports the next superintendent's three-year contract will have a start date of July 1, 2021, with a transition period in May. Its salary ranges from $215,000 to $275,000, plus competitive benefits.
Byrd took a position as the deputy superintendent of schools in Polk County in June 2013. In February 2016, she was sworn in as superintendent of Polk County Public Schools.
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