Dr. Mark Shanoff has the tough task of filling the shoes, seat and role of retiring Osceola School District Superintendent Dr. Debra Pace. She held that position since 2016 and was an educator in the county’s public schools for over three decades.
Shanoff, 47, a native of the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and a principal at the elementary, middle school and high school level before serving in county administration in Volusia and Orange counties, was officially sworn in on June 27. He took a few minutes with the News-Gazette to talk about how he’s fitting in among staff, what he’s implementing as he walks in the door and the impact he hopes to make.
Osceola News-Gazette: So what have these first couple weeks been like?
Dr. Shanoff: Like drinking from a fire hose (laughs). The folks I’ve met have been wonderful, welcoming and accepting. The amount of folks who’ve reached out … there’s a highly-invested district here. What I’ve heard will be the basis of the town halls we’re going to do starting in August. We want to know what’s going well in the schools, and what we can improve, so I can dig into those and get context about what people really like about our district and the places for value enhancement.
ONG: Of what you’ve seen thus far, what is going well in the district?
Shanoff: People. Commitment. To me, the genuine belief that we can move kids in the community to greater opportunities. Where I can help, what does that look like in facilities? In transportation? In finance? I want everyone to understand what that experience looks like, and the impacts district-wide. We can really make a lot of headway if we all understand the context of our decisions on student achievement. I see people willing to embrace that.
ONG: How do you see staff taking to the change at the top?
Shanoff: Anytime someone new coming in, there’s apprehension and cause for concern. I’m an open book, it’s what’s gotten me to this place in my career. I really believe our community will see I’m looking to build from within and not disrupt what’s been done. I believe the talent is in Osceola County; people who understand where we’ve been and where we’re going are in position to move us forward. My No. 2 and 3 hires were already sitting in this room.
ONG: Is there a strategy to fill the many teaching and other openings in the district?
Shanoff: With the school year starting in (four) weeks, it’s hard to put in a robust recruiting plan. Teachers will work in environments where they can grow and make progress. Having been a principal, I know what that looks like.
There’s three ways to attack this: Make sure we are getting to teacher applications prior to their graduation and be visible and show the paths. We need to be more national with expanding our pool and creating pipelines. And the last comes down to creating the best experience for staff. We offer the best benefits package of any district on the I-4 corridor; it’s not even close.
I don’t think there will be another superintendent who spends as much time in schools as I will. I’m not an ‘office’ guy. I cut my teeth in classrooms, I get energy from kids learning from great teachers. I’ll be out and about; I told principals, “Don’t be afraid if you see me.” I am there to hang out and experience education, just like any kid, to see the good kids occurring, and catch a teacher doing something to help kids.
ONG: What are you excited about putting your stamp on, on the business side?
Shanoff: I think the big challenge with be the growth, and scaling up the organization where we can take on an additional 20,000 students in five years. Can we adapt to that and remain competitive on the salary front, and build schools in cadence to combat overcrowding? I’ll be diving in deeply to that and working with our partners.
I want teachers to feel appreciated and have the most opportune work conditions and feel supported at the administrative level — that they have the wind at their back and support all the way through to the superintendent’s office. I was a principal during the pandemic — the shift to online learning, the debates about masks, students returned with sever mental health challenges, and teachers experienced quite a bit themselves. I recognize teachers left the profession because of it. We can now get back to the joy of it.
ONG: Where do you see this district positioned in five years?
Shanoff: There’s data points I look at to assess the health of a school district. I believe the graduation rate needs to be as close to 100 percent as possible. If we’re going to guarantee success of students, we have to be able look a parent in the eye and say we’ll make sure their student graduates with a high school diploma. The second is they’re leaving with options — graduation with a plan on where they’re going.
We’re going to be a large district in a short period of time. We cannot escape the idea of having a small-town feel community. How do we ensure we maintain that feel within a much bigger infrastructure — a more complex organization with the same values?
ONG: Last question: what got you into education?
Shanoff: I guess I have to come clean: I enjoyed being a summer camp counselor more than anything in the world. The only job that allowed me to have summers off was, well, teaching. Over the course of time I enjoyed teaching more, and collaborating with my colleagues more. Then it morphed into, I really enjoyed leadership, and became an assistant principal at age 27. I was the first Orange County administrator to be a principal at all three levels (others have done it since).
