MORGANTOWN — Just like the old mimeograph machines and carbon paper in your grandma’s school, the Monongalia County Board of Education (BOE) was working in triplicate during its regular meeting Tuesday night.
That’s what you do when you have to hire a new superintendent for your district, BOE President Barbara Parsons said.
“Now, the process begins,” she said.
Frank Devono, who was hired under a one-year contract in 2005, announced his retirement last month.
In the days since, the board put out a Help Wanted ad for his position.
Then, it created another job listing for a recruitment firm — to help generate more applicants.
That was on top of a third call the BOE put out last week for people from the community to take part in that process she was talking about.
The board wants to create a local committee, or committees, to help screen the resumes.
Parsons said the board has a list of about 45 names that it is now considering.
The names started being bandied about following a story on the hiring process in The Dominion Post.
“We just have to see how many people want to actually do it,” she said.
The idea, as she her fellow BOE members discussed previously, is to have a person hired by June 1.
That date is the latest a three-year contract could be offered, as mandated by state code.
While the BOE thinks a multiyear contract would be more attractive to a candidate — especially one with a family who would have to relocate — Parsons said she doesn’t want the process clouded by a deadline.
Devono already agreed to stay on in an interim basis if need be, she said.
Board member Mike Kelly agreed with Parsons, telling The Dominion Post on Monday that June 1 wasn’t “etched in stone” for the BOE,
The board, meanwhile, still hopes to present a job offer to a candidate by mid-May.
