LUMBERTON — A special meeting of the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County that had been planned for Tuesday has been postponed so board members can continue to review information before filling the superintendent’s position.
“It’s going to be rescheduled,” board Chairman Loistine Defreece said. “Some board members expressed concerns about going through all of the information on the candidates in time for the meeting.”
Defreece said the meeting will be rescheduled for next week, however no date has been set because of conflicts in board members’ work and vacation schedules.
The board was to meet in the transportation classroom at 621 Kenric Road in Lumberton and perhaps vote on whom to offer the position that became vacant on Jan. 10 when the decision to buy out Superintendent Tommy Lowry’s contract was made in a 6-5 vote.
As many as four superintendent candidates were interviewed Saturday during closed sessions held at COMtech near Pembroke. Several informed sources have told The Robesonian two candidates remain.
Twenty-one applicants who met the criteria set out by the board had applied by the mid-April deadline, said Allison Schafer, of the North Carolina School Boards Association, which has helped with the search. An initial round of interviews was conducted in late May.
Schafer set out the timeline for candidate selection, which included naming the new superintendent by July 1 and the selected candidate taking office Aug. 1.
Shanita Wooten has been serving as the system’s interim superintendent.
