By PAMELA GOULD

The Spotsylvania County School Board has not yet decided how to conduct the search for its next superintendent despite announcing that it could interview candidates within the next two weeks.

Shelley K. Redinger leaves at the end of the school year to become superintendent of the Spokane, Wash., public schools. She begins her $240,000 per year job there on July 1. Her new position will pay her $54,000 more than she earns in Spotsylvania.

After a closed-door meeting Monday night, Spotsylvania School Board Chairwoman Linda Wieland announced that the board may conduct candidate interviews at an undisclosed location between now and May 8.

However, she and co-Chairwoman Amanda Blalock said in interviews this week that the board hasn't yet decided how it wants to proceed.

Monday's announcement was made to meet a legal requirement in case the board wants to conduct interviews within that time period, Blalock and Wieland said.

If the board conducts any interviews, by law it must publicly declare that it has done so at the next board meeting, Blalock said.

The board has not run any advertisements for the position and must still decide how to proceed with the search, Blalock and Wieland said.

The pair are expected to meet today to discuss the process further.

Wieland has known since February that Redinger could be leaving, but the rest of the board found out after she was announced as a finalist for the Spokane post the weekend of April 1.

Spokane's board offered Redinger the post on April 14 and finalized its contract with her on Wednesday.

The Spotsylvania board released Redinger from the last three years of her contract after a closed-door discussion on Monday.

During the private session, the board discussed some people who might be interested in interviewing for the position, board attorney Jennifer Parrish said.

Thus far, Blalock and Wieland have met twice and been in touch with BWP and Associates, the search firm that found Redinger last year.

Because Redinger is leaving after one year, Spotsylvania can use BWP's services again for free because of a two-year search success clause in its contract.

Kevin Castner, a representative from BWP who is a former Albemarle County superintendent, spoke at Monday's board meeting and reviewed the options for finding the next superintendent.

He said the board could appoint a current employee or use BWP's services in one of three ways.

BWP could recruit two to four candidates and have them here by mid-May for initial interviews and late May for final interviews.

The firm also could post the position for a short time and have candidates available for initial interviews at the end of May. Final interviews would follow in mid-June.

A third option would be to appoint an interim superintendent who could come from within the division or from experienced superintendents BWP could recommend.

The board could then take more time to locate suitable candidates for consideration.

Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com