STARKVILLE — An undisclosed number of the 22 candidates in the Starkville School District superintendent pool have been eliminated, though the board of trustees won’t release names until next week.
The board met Tuesday and took only one action in open session, unanimously agreeing to let the Mississippi School Boards Association — contracted to assist in the search — handle background checks of semifinalists.
Discussion of candidates and which ones were eliminated from contention took place in executive session.
Board President Keith Coble said the board agreed not to reveal the number of names forwarded back to MSBA, which will contact the remaining candidates to see if they’re still interested in the position.
“If that list is short enough, the semifinalists will be finalists,” Coble said. “If it’s long, it might be a more complicated process. The logistics of how many people we bring in, the timing … it’ll just be a little more complicated.”
Coble expects MSBA to return a list of candidates who are still interested and have passed a background check by next week. The board will call a special meeting to release the names of semifinalists, or if the list is short enough, a list of finalists.
During executive session, members mostly discussed their personal top choices and compared notes, Coble said.
“There were some logistical questions, but that was the main focus of executive session,” he added.
When the board releases names next week, it will set up closed-door interviews and coordinate public sessions with each candidate. The board briefly discussed how it would handle public interviews but opted to wait until next week to finalize plans.
“Some people may withdraw once we know our process,” said board member Eric Heiselt, noting candidates whose current employers may discourage interviewing for other jobs.
Coble said a target date for hire wasn’t set, but the board agreed the process should move as quickly as possible when they receive the semifinalist list.
School districts in Tupelo, Columbus, Oxford and Natchez — all similar in size to Starkville — are searching for superintendents. MSBA consultant Harold Fisher said in December there are overlapping candidates for each of the jobs.
Coble downplayed the need to make a quick hire to avoid losing a top candidate to another district.
“That’s probably a little bit in the back of our mind,” Coble said. “The longer you wait, who knows what’s going to happen. We just feel, for a whole variety of reasons and that’s probably one of them, that we have to move quickly.”
The district is looking to replace Judy Couey, who resigned in April. Couey became superintendent of the district in July 2008. She came to the district as assistant superintendent in June 2006.
MSBA is still taking applications for the Columbus superintendent position. Applications must be postmarked by Jan. 31, 2012. The chosen candidate is expected to take the helm on or before July 1.
Interim Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell, who has held the position since the May departure of superintendent Dr. Del Phillips, has applied for the job.
Phillips left Columbus to take a job as the director of schools for Sumner County, Tenn.
In Starkville, Interim Superintendent Beth Sewell took the interim position with the understanding the interim would not be considered for the full-time post.
Columbus and Starkville schools are paying MSBA a $9,500 fee, plus expenses, to conduct their superintendent searches.
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