By Staff
Temporary principal for Ed Tech Center also announced
By TED STRONG
Staff Writer
The same consultant who ran the last two superintendent searches for Beaufort County Schools is running a third.
Pamela Daw, a retired schools employee from Washington, was awarded a contract Monday night by the Beaufort County Board of Education to run the search.
She will work with the board to perfect materials needed for the search, set a timeline, collect applications and generally help run the process.
Among her first tasks will be customizing an application for perspective candidates and formulating a pair of surveys. The surveys will query schools employees and the public on what they want in a new superintendent.
Daw hopes to have a new superintendent on board by July. To accomplish that goal, the board must choose a candidate by the end of May at the latest, she said.
Whoever the schools hire will likely be employed as a superintendent in another district, and most superintendents are contractually obligated to give about 60 days notice of intention to leave, Daw said.
But the timeline could be upset by a number of variables, she cautioned.
Also at the meeting, the board backed a motion by member William Warren to ask the state Legislature to change the exceptional way the board fills vacant seats.
Most boards fill a seat only until the next election. According to the legislation that joined the Washington City and Beaufort County boards of education, vacancies on the board in Beaufort County are filled for the entire unexpired term.
Warren said the change would move authority “back to the people,” but the move wasn’t unanimous: Board member Eltha Booth voted against the measure.
There is currently a vacancy in the seat for District 3, which includes Belhaven and parts of surrounding areas. John White Sr. resigned over the departure of Superintendent Jeff Moss.
The board voted to allow Ted Overton, an assistant principal at Chocowinity Middle School to transfer to the Ed Tech Center, where he will serve as principal until his retirement at the end of the year.