The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education met Monday night to discuss hiring an interim superintendent to replace Tricia McManus who will retire at the end of June.
There are no specific licensure requirements for an interim superintendent, which gives the school board a lot of freedom in its selection.
But at Monday’s meeting, many members said they wanted candidates with prior experience as a superintendent in a similarly-sized district, and a proven track record of dealing with financial deficits.
While this person will need to prepare schools for the next academic year, several board members want their main focus to be on the district’s recent budget challenges.
“We can't wait for a period of six months for someone to come in and fix that," said Vice Chair Alex Bohannon. "We have to have someone who's focusing on that now so that by the time we're ready for the new superintendent to come in, there's already been work done around that.”
He added that he believes the interim superintendent should not end up in the permanent role. The board hopes to have the position filled by June 1.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.