This meeting was noticed on the agency’s web site and to the media through the agency’s state-wide media distribution list. The resignation of the Commissioner of Education, Gerard Robinson, on July 31, 2012, created an immediate danger to public welfare. The Commissioner of Education is the chief education officer for the state whose duties include advising the State Board of Education on all matters pertaining to the education of all public school students in Florida. The purpose of the meeting was to appoint an interim Commissioner and to discuss the process for searching for the next Commissioner of Education. The action of the Board was to unanimously appoint Pam Stewart, current Chancellor of Public Schools, as the interim Commissioner and to direct the Department of Education to begin the process of identifying a search firm that can assist in the identification of candidates for the next Commissioner of Education.