After spending more than a week trawling through resumes, the city school board voted Thursday night to extend the deadline for the superintendent search.
The Columbus Municipal School District closed the application process on Jan. 31 and received packets of information on nine candidates last week from the Mississippi School Boards Association, which was hired in July to conduct the search.
One candidate withdrew from consideration this week.
During a special meeting Thursday night, board member Tommy Prude called for the board to reopen the application period and extend it until March 22.
“The entire first group was very disappointing,” Prude said. I wasn’t pleased with most of the applicants.”
His motion to extend the search by three weeks was seconded by board member Bruce Hanson. The measure passed 4-1, with board member Currie Fisher casting the dissenting vote.
After the meeting, Fisher said she was opposed to extending the application period because the search has already been conducted and it’s time to make a choice, even if the current candidates are less than inspiring.
“I think we need to go ahead and make a decision,” Fisher said. “I think we would have liked to see a healthier pool of applicants.”
The position will be advertised once more in national and regional publications, using a 12-point list of criteria the board wants to see in the next superintendent. The list of character traits, which range from financial savviness to willingness to work cooperatively with the board, was developed after feedback sessions from the board, administrators and members of the community.
Initially, 10 people applied for the position, but one candidate withdrew Feb. 10 in order to accept a position with another district, and another candidate withdrew last week.
Board President Glenn Lautzenhiser said Friday morning that MSBA officials said the district received fewer applications they have seen in a long time and expressed surprise that more people didn’t apply. They also recommended extending the search.
Hanson said since searches have recently closed in the Starkville School District and in other districts around the area, it’s possible that those who were not chosen may now consider Columbus.
Lautzenhiser agreed with extending the search but said the current eight candidates had some good qualities, and the extension is due more to the low interest in the position than a reflection of the applicant pool’s strengths and weaknesses.
“We just think it’s in the best interest of the district to extend it and see if anybody else will surface,” he said.
The district has been without a full time superintendent since May, when former superintendent Del Phillips resigned to accept a position as Director of Schools for the Sumner County School System in Gallatin, Tenn.
Since that time, the superintendent’s role has been filled by Interim Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell, who has applied for the full-time position.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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