Weather permitting, the Mountain Home School Board this evening will be presented with a list of finalists for the superintendent's job with a possible decision on who will get an interview later this month.

Dr. Kieth Williams of Searcy, an associate in the McPherson & Jacobsen Executive Recruitment and Development Company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, told KTLO and Classic Hits 101.7 News that he and fellow associate Bobby Lester were still working on finalizing a list to present to the board tonight.

Williams said they eventually wound up with 22 "valid applicants" by the January 8th deadline. They have spent the last couple of weeks verifying resume information and comparing it to the criteria list the Mountain Home School Board approved last October. Mountain Home Junior High Principal Wes Henderson was the only in-house applicant.

The initial plan was to present five finalists to the board with the board having the option to add anyone. Williams, who is an associate professor of education and director of the Education Leadership program at that college, said he anticipates they will present a list of potential finalists to the board at tonight's meeting and expects the board to take that list into a closed or executive session to decide on how many they will interview or if they want to add anyone. 

The board has tentatively scheduled five days for interviews starting February 19th. The day long interview sessions with start with several committees meeting with the applicants throughout the day and the board interviewing the applicants in two-hour sessions that night after getting input from the various committees. The committees include teachers, support staff, students and as well as a committee of district patrons. The process is very similar to one used five years ago when the board chose Dr. Charles Scriber.

Board President Robert Nelson said he hopes the board can pick a new superintendent in March. Scriber is retiring at the end of this school year in June.