BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — After narrowing down their search to three finalists, the Brevard County School District voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve Cocoa Beach High School Principal Mark Rendell as the next school superintendent. 

The board had initially selected four finalists over two weeks ago, but the list of candidates was trimmed down to three when John Stratton, superintendent of Hernando County School District, withdrew from consideration on April 25.

The three remaining candidates included Rendell, principal at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School; Scott Schneider, chief of schools at Duval County Public Schools; and Dr. Jason Wysong, deputy superintendent at Seminole County Public Schools.

Previously, the 11 semifinalists had been narrowed to four by the school board on April 18. The semifinalists had sent in written and video responses to a list of questions, and board members considered that information before making their decision. 

Rendell’s key message to the board was the district can do better than it has.

“If you’re looking at our performance and you’re saying that income level is often correlated to performance, then we should be in the top 13 in every category, compared to the other schools around us,” Rendell said. “We are not.” 

The board also held private interviews last Friday before making their decision.

You can watch the May 02 school board meeting on their YouTube channel.

Contract negotiations will now begin and board members said they expect to have the new superintendent in place before the start of the next school year.

You can look back at the superintendent applicant information on the Brevard Public Schools website, including candidate resumes, and written and video responses to board questions.