By CHRIS WILSON

Senior Writer

AMORY - The Amory School Board will soon be ready to begin interviewing candidates for the district's superintendent position.

Due to the retirement of Supt. Jim Sappington at the end of this school year, the board began a search for a new superintendent after establishing criteria through meetings held in late October with school staff, school board members, parents and others.

According to School Board President Dr. Bill Rogers, there have been about 10 or 11 applicants for the Amory superintendent position.

The Amory School Board contracted with the Mississippi School Boards Association (MSBA) to conduct the superintendent search.

Dr. Harold Fisher of the MSBA, former president of Blue Mountain College, has worked with the Amory School Board on the search. The MSBA advertised the job in January and completed the application process in February.

The MSBA also has reviewed the applicants and will recommend to the Amory School Board on Thursday evening, April 9, the ones that they believe are most like what the Amory community is seeking in a superintendent.

Rogers said during mid-April the Amory board will look at the applications the MSBA has received and will then direct the MSBA to set up interviews here with the Amory board members. Rogers said the Amory board will likely interview several, depending on their qualifications.

Rogers said that Dr. Fisher said there were several strong candidates for the Amory position. Rogers said the interviews here will likely be in closed session and not open to the public.

The school board is expecting to be able to hire a superintendent by late April or early May.

"A lot of schools are looking for superintendents right now," Rogers said. "If half of our applicants are strong, high quality, then we'll be pretty happy."