BRADENTON, Fla. — While we’re in the heart of summer vacation for students, Manatee County is swearing in its next superintendent Monday.

Dr. Jason Wysong will take over as the Manatee County School District’s next superintendent after Cynthia Saunders formally retired last week.

Most recently, Wysong was a deputy superintendent for Seminole County schools and led K-12 instruction. He started his career as a social studies teacher before taking on a number of leadership roles.

The candidates were selected with the help of the Florida School Board Association. Executive Director Andrea Messina says they asked both the community and the school board what they were looking for in their next leader and the biggest takeaway was they wanted a strong academic leader who could really connect with residents and parents.

“The qualities that a school board is looking for typically come from the community and board input,” Messina explained. “We advertise it nationally but we also recruit. My team and I know senior leaders across the state and also people who are aspiring leaders both in and out of state, so our goal is always to find a good match between our board and an aspiring superintendent.”

Over the past three years, there’s been a lot of turnover across the state when it comes to superintendents. Messina credited that to both a large number of retirements and school districts that were looking for change following the pandemic.

“Education is in a time of transition and people don’t always agree what that transition should look like, or could look like, but they’re looking for some sort of change,” she said. “The greatest manifestation of change visually is a new superintendent.”

After Wysong takes over the superintendent role on Monday, one of his first tasks will be to fill vacant spots such as the deputy superintendent.

Twenty nine Florida school districts have appointed superintendents, while the remainder are elected positions.