JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Duval County School Board conducted a special meeting Tuesday to evaluate Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.
Vitti has been in charge of the school district for two years and his contract extends to the summer of 2016.
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Tuesday, board members discussed his progress over the past year and areas they think need improvement.
Vitti said he would grade himself as a "B" or B-minus."
The board basically gave him a grade of "more than effective."
The board members talked about what they think Vitti's strengths and weaknesses are. Some of the biggest strengths they pointed to were:
- Courageous leadership
- College readiness
- More kids doing better in Duval County than ever before
Areas where they pointed to needed growth were:
- Long-term planning
- Communication
- Improved morale at school level
A qualitative summary of those responses are worth half of Vitti's evaluation. The next 40 percent of his evaluation is based on academic targets, including FCAT scores, school grades and student achievement data.
Vitti met or exceeded more than half of the academic targets.
The final 10 percent of his score is based on what are called "academic support targets" that he and the board came up with. They include developing great teachers, leaders, and students, engaging parents and the community, and efficient use of resources. He met or exceeded more than 80 percent of those.
On a scale of 1 to 4 with 4 being the best, Vitti's overall grade, based on whether he met or did not meet his targets was a 2.73. Vitti talked about areas where he believes he needs work.
"I think we have to do a better job of celebrating choice in this landscape of options," Vitti said. "I think we have to continue with safety and discipline in our schools. And I think we have to do a better job of literacy and make sure more of our students can graduate high school at grade level to read so those are areas where I definitely celebrate improvement but also recognize we have to grow in other areas as well."
For the past two years, Duval County has had the highest graduation rate in history and outpaced the state's average for growth.