Marlboro County Board of Education approved 7-1 to hire law firm White and Story LLC to immediately start the search for a new superintendent.

Vice Chairman Rev. James Smith voted no. Board member Janice Bright was not at the meeting.

The new superintendent will not start until the 2023-24 school year.

Smith said he agreed with starting the search immediately but wanted the potential superintendent to start at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.

Before the vote to approve beginning the search, Smith made an amended motion to have the superintendent start at the beginning of the 2022-23 school. The motion failed due to a lack of a second.

Board member Reginald Gaymon said the board felt it was in the best interest of the district to start the search now but have the new superintendent start at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year because there are a lot of great candidates out there now, but the district may not get them because the process is being started late.

Attorney Ashley Story said the superintendent search is a lengthy one and explained the process to the board.

The search will start with the pre-application period. Input will be sought from the board and the public by conducting focus groups or an online survey.

This is to determine what qualities the public is looking for in the next superintendent.

Story said the board would be provided with a compilation of those results so they can decide what qualities are most important in a new superintendent to start the process. A job application form will be developed.

Story said once applicants start applying, they will be screened.

“We take that very seriously,” she said. “We do background and financial checks. We do employment checks. It is important to know what people say about the people potentially coming to work here.”

From there, semi-finalists will be selected with interviews conducted.

“We recommend at some point, whether be the semifinalist or the finalists, that you have town halls to meet with the public so the public can be introduced to these folks,” Story said. “It is to get a feel of how they interact with your public, with your kids, with your parents, and with your staff members. This is a very important part of that process.”

The top three individuals will return for final interviews. When the superintendent is selected, Story will help to develop a good contract and help prepare media announcements.

She added they would help with the transition from the interim superintendent to the new superintendent.

Other business

In other business, board members:

— approved eight certified hires.

— approved the assistant principal selections for 2022-23 school year.

— learned the District Job fair is from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. on Saturday.

— approved a $40,000 donation to McColl Elementary Middle School from the Love Foundation for a digital sign.

— learned phase 1 of the process of developing a new strategic plan will take place on March 15-17 from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at Bennettsville Intermediate School. — learned the district had expended, as of Feb. 28, $17,702,314.43 of a $38,560,818 budget, or 46 percent of the budget. Chief Finance Officer Sharon Hubbard said ideally, they should be at 67% of the budget. The entire March 7 meeting for the Marlboro County Board of Education can be found on the district’s Facebook page.