School Administrator on List for Florida Job

Dennis Smith, the administrator who guided high-achieving Irvine Unified School District out of bankruptcy, has been approached by officials in Florida to head one of the nation’s largest school districts.

Smith and three other candidates chosen by a search firm have been invited to interview with Florida’s Orange County School District, a 130,000-student system with a $1-billion annual budget.

The district, the 15th-largest in the nation, encompasses downtown Orlando and outlying agricultural areas.

Rapid enrollment growth and diversity are major issues in the district, whose students come from 194 countries and speak 93 languages, including Spanish, Creole and Portuguese, school officials said.

The opportunity came as a surprise, said Smith, who has spent much of his career in California and became superintendent in Irvine in June 1995.

“I’m very much a part of the Irvine family, and it’s a wonderful district and a quality school system,” Smith said. “I believe it’s one of the finest in all of California.”

Smith will meet for the first time this weekend with the Florida school officials, who say they expect to make a choice by the end of next week.

The person hired will succeed Supt. Donald Shaw, who is retiring in June.