ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County School District has a newly nominated superintendent: Dr. Brennan Asplen, the district’s current deputy superintendent of operations.
Asplen, who was unanimously selected by the school board, has been working that job since 2023. The school district said he’s the only one of the four candidates considered for the superintendent job who has served as a district superintendent in the past.
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Asplen worked as superintendent for Sarasota County schools between 2020-2023 after a 14-year stint going from job to job in the St. Johns County School District.
“I’m so excited and I so much appreciate the board’s confidence in me to move forward,” Asplen told Action News Jax in a phone call less than a half hour after learning he’d been picked.
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Action News Jax asked Asplen what his first priorities are when he starts as superintendent. In no particular order, he told us they are building more schools, hiring and retaining more employees, and school safety.
Asplen, as deputy superintendent, has already overseen the building of the school district’s new K-8 schools, two of which opened last year. Another opens this fall and the other two are set to open in the fall of 2026.
Asplen is promising to put together more ways for parents, families and students to weigh in on the building of future schools.
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“I’m really hoping that the community and parents and students and families and our employees will all be able to come together, collaborate,” Asplen said.
Another challenge the school district is facing is finding more employees, especially teachers, to both come and stay for work in St. Johns County.
Asplen tells Action News Jax around 5,200 employees have left the district in the last five years and about 4,200 of those hadn’t even worked for five years.
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“We need to really look at what is going on during those first five years and how we can support,” Asplen said.
The district said the school board and Asplen will now begin meeting to go over his contract for the superintendent job, which will include the amount he’s set to be paid.
The contract will go for a final vote by the school board during one of their meetings within the next month, since Asplen is set to start the job by July 1.
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