VIERA, Fla. — The three men under consideration to temporarily replace outgoing Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Mullins made their case for the job in an hours-long interview session on Thursday.

What You Need To Know

Mullins is set to leave his role as superintendent of the district with more than 73,000 students on Dec. 31 after the board approved a mutual separation agreement with him on Dec. 5.

During its fourth special board meeting this month, the members of the school board went through a series of interviews with interim superintendent candidates Mark Rendell, James Larsen and Robert Schiller. They were deemed the top three after each of the board members ranked their preferences out of 12 initial options heading into the Dec. 13 board work session.

Board Chair Matt Susin explained on Tuesday that as board members ranked their preferences, 12 points went to each member's top choice, 11 points to their second choice and so on. According to Susin, these were the preferences of the board members starting with the first preference:

Based on the rankings by the board members, Rendell, the current principal of Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School, received 46 points, followed by Larsen with 35 and then Schiller with 32. That was also the order in which they conducted the full board interviews beginning Thursday at 9 a.m.

Each candidate was given five minutes to make an opening statement. After which, each board member was given 10 minutes to ask questions and then the candidate was given five minutes to offer closing remarks. All of this was live-streamed on the district’s YouTube channel.

Following this line of questioning, the board members were able to have one-on-one conversations with the candidates in round robin format.

Mark Rendell

Rendell was interviewed first. He has 30 years of experience in education and was the only candidate of the original 12 who is a current employee of BPS.

Before starting her questions, Board Vice Chair Megan Wright noted that Rendell was the principal at Titusville High during her senior year. It was one of six principal or vice principal roles Rendell held at BPS between 1996 and today.

In response to Wright’s first question, regarding the three biggest challenges for the district, Rendell described them as “a fracture … between the community and the district,” “a staffing shortage all across the board,” and “a sense of disengagement from the student body.”

“I view our families and students as our customers. And I saw customers coming to the business asking, giving input, asking for things to change and the company didn’t listen,” Rendell told the board. “The idea is that when people come to you with concerns and issues, you need to listen. You need to bring them inside the tent.”

Prior to his current job as principal at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School, Rendell served as the superintendent of the School District of Indian River County. Among his accomplishments there, he noted in his resumé that the graduation rate improved across student populations from 81% to 92% and that AP/IB enrollment also increased from 21% to 29%.

In response to a question from District 3 Board Member Jennifer Jenkins, he acknowledged that during his final year in 2019, the Indian River School Board gave him a mixed performance review.

“It seems like they didn’t feel like I was communicating as well with them or with member relations, something like that,” Rendell told Jenkins on Thursday. “I’ve always tried to have regular, honest, open communication with everyone I worked with. So, I’ve just tried to work harder at that to make sure everyone I work with knows where we are, what we’re working on, that I value their input.”

One of the reviews from 2018 obtained by Spectrum News 13 notes that former Board Member Laura Zorc gave him a two out of five in the area of “Communication and Engagement,” stating “I think we need to work on trust. It’s ok to admit we make mistakes. Ignoring or letting issues go on unaddressed develops into mistrust.”

Another board member at the time, Dale Simchick, gave him a two out of five in the “Impact/Rapport Building” section of the evaluation, writing that “I believe his public image can improve and a better approach to conflict resolution. No one loves the boss, but this is the area I hear the most from.”

Rendell resigned from that superintendent role in 2019 after the board voted in April of that year to not renew his contract, which would’ve expired in 2020.

Following his questions from the board, Rendell spoke with Spectrum News 13 and said if he were to get this position he wants to sit down with the board, get to know them and then figure out how best to work together.

“They’re the board of directors, so you respond to them, you respond to their direction, but you also need to lead the district in the way that you think is best for student achievement,” he said. “Everybody has the students as their main focus. If every decision is made on the best interest of the students, we’ll be fine.”

Regarding the teacher shortage issue, he said better support and improving wages may help with retention.

“Most research that’s been done about why teachers leave, it’s the conditions and not necessarily the pay,” Rendell said.

A January 2022 survey conducted by GBAO on behalf of the National Education Association surveyed more than 3,600 educators. It found that burnout was the top issue for educators, with 67% calling it a “very serious issue.”

Those surveyed noted “general stress from the coronavirus pandemic,” “unfilled job openings leading to more work for remaining staff” and “pay is too low” were other top issues.

James Larsen

Next up to bat was James Larsen, who began his current role with Orange County Public Schools’ Chief Academic Office in August. Prior to that, Larsen served as the area superintendent of the Southwest Learning Community, covering 29 schools and more than 25,000 students, according to his resumé.

He told the board that Jan. 3, 2023, will mark 30 years in education and said now seemed like an opportune time to take on a new chapter and challenge.

“I recognize that it’s an interim, but it’s an opportunity that I could not pass up,” Larsen told the board.

He said that one of the greatest challenges facing the board in its search for a permanent superintendent. Larsen said his various experiences in Orange County would translate well in Brevard.

One of the other priorities is marketing by putting out good stories and sharing successes while acknowledging the hurdles they face.

“In that marketing, we have to accept the challenges that we have and meet them forefront and say, ‘Look, here are some challenges that we have, here’s what we’re doing about it,’” Larsen said. “You’ve got to be willing to show your willing to take on the challenges.”

Vacancies were the third big challenge across the district, noting it’s a “teacher market” given the vast number of vacancies across not just Central Florida, but around the country.

In response to questions from Wright and Campbell, he said transparency with the public will be important in their finances and strategic plan.  

“Whether this position is four months, five months, six months, or turns into a permanent role, are you going to leave Brevard better than when you got there? Now, the only way to do that, is to have that relationship with the board and myself initially. What are your priorities? What has to be done now? What can’t wait?” Larsen said.

He went on to say that those conversations need to translate into better-operating facilities and making sure there’s facetime on a school-by-school level as well as reaching out to community organizations and other stakeholders.

“When you look at the important topics that you just named, discipline and past mandates, let me hear your thoughts, let me tell you what we have to do and let’s talk about what we can do, cause there’s a difference depending on the situation,” Larsen told Spectrum News.

Robert Schiller

The final candidate interviewed was Robert Schiller. He immediately took a step to separate himself from the other two candidates by stating clearly that if he were selected as the interim superintendent, he would not seek to stay on in a permanent role.

He said that conclusion was made based on his experience as both a search consultant and someone who served as an interim superintendent multiple times in places like Los Angeles and Baltimore. Schiller also has decades of education experience that also include serving as a permanent superintendent.

“You want the maximum flexibility as a board to attract the finest candidates and not restrict someone who may apply for the job,” Schiller said. “You don’t want the interim to try and do your business in the short-term, and sometimes make some very hard decisions with the board in order to address issues you don’t want your permanent superintendent to handle day one. You don’t want that individual looking to campaign for the job simultaneously.”

He said that if he were chosen as the person for the interim role, he wanted to start the very next day so that he could be in place before students return from winter break.

“You deserve 24/7 my attention and my effort,” Schiller said.

Like Larsen, he also stated that the first priority for the board is to find a permanent superintendent. The next two highest priorities in his mind are to work on “internal housekeeping,” which involves finding new staff and retaining the current ones, and working on strengthening district credibility and support.

He noted that his experience at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania gave him experience in coming into an organization in transition and helping them navigate.

“The point is that we would set the table for and rebuild as much credibility as we can through our budget, through our openness, through our willingness to listen and to respond accordingly,” Schiller said.

What’s next?

The school board is set to reconvene at 9 a.m. Friday to discuss their conversations with the candidates and make a decision on either selecting one of them or making another decision.

If they chose one of the candidates who went through the interview process, then Matt Susin, as the board chair, would then negotiate a contract with that individual and the board would vote on that contract during the board’s fifth and final special meeting of the month on Tuesday, Dec. 20.