Van Ayres is superintendent of schools

One by one, members of the Hillsborough County School Board on Thursday praised their interim superintendent, Van Ayres, before voting unanimously to give him the permanent job.

Board member Karen Perez said the entire community was “ecstatic” that Ayres, 49 and a district employee since he graduated from the University of Tampa, was being considered for the job. Member Jessica Vaughn told him, “Straight from day one I started to see your leadership.”

Added member Henry “Shake” Washington, who has more than 40 years in the school system: “Whatever I can do to support you, you call Shake. He will.”

It has been four months since Ayres stepped in after the abrupt resignation of Superintendent Addison Davis. Most of the seven board members remarked on the fact that, wherever they would go, district staff were asking when they would make Ayres’ position official.

“To say that I’m proud and privileged is an understatement,” Ayres said after the vote and applause.

“I love this district. I will do whatever to support this community, my team and this board. The support that you all gave me today, and to have all seven, means so, so much.”

He told the board, “We set the example up here every day in what we do. So let’s not forget that we do that, and it’s leading with a sense of kindness. We can be great leaders, but we do so being kind to one another and setting expectations.”

Touching on a time several years ago when he said he was not ready to become superintendent, Ayres looked out at his children — Sophia, 21, and Ian, 18 — who were in the audience with their grandparents, retired educators Van Ayres Sr. and Nuri Ayres.

He said he could accept the superintendents’ job now, with Sophia and Ian away at college. When they were younger, he said, Sophia was a dancer and Ian played baseball. He insisted on being present at their games and performances.

And he urged others in the audience to do the same.

Ayres’ contract calls for an annual salary of $330,000 that can be raised yearly by 4% if other 12-month administrators are also given increases. School Board Attorney Jim Porter pointed out that he agreed to conditions that greatly favor the board if they are unhappy with Ayres’ work. The new superintendent can be dismissed with a simple majority.

Before voting on Ayres, the board approved contracts with the district’s teachers and support workers unions. They also approved a pay plan for administrators, with a commitment from Ayres that he will soon look for ways to increase administrators’ pay.

In choosing Ayres, the district has reverted to a long tradition of hiring from within, despite its status as the nation’s seventh-largest school system.

Only once in recent decades has Hillsborough conducted a national search. That search, in 2019, yielded Davis, a Florida native who transferred from the much smaller Clay County.

Davis, who saw himself as a change agent, succeeded in cutting costs to end a long period of deficit spending that had angered state leaders. He also decreased the number of persistently underperforming schools in Hillsborough, which led the state in that category before he arrived.

But Davis’ mantra of “teach like your hair’s on fire” wore thin among the staff. Principals said he was too prone to micromanaging.

Ayres is seen largely as someone who can make tough decisions, but in a gentler manner and with a greater degree of trust among coworkers he has known his entire life.

In his remarks, he did not mention some of the more difficult things he will have to do — for example, closing and consolidating underenrolled schools in a process that Davis began last year.

There is also a need to campaign for a property tax referendum so Hillsborough will be able to compete for talent with Pinellas and Pasco counties, which already have special taxes to support the teachers.

Ayres named early learning, literacy and graduation rates as some of his top priorities.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Much, much work to do. But I’m up for the challenge.”

And twice he repeated, “I will not let you down.”