JACKSON SCHOOL DISTRICT RECEIVES 20 APPLICATIONS

JACKSON -- Area school boards are getting lessons in supply and demand as they search for superintendents.

The demand for superintendents is high, with Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Perryville, Meadow Heights and Farmington districts all looking to fill their top posts.

But the supply isn't short. The Jackson Board of Education received 20 candidate applications for its vacancy. There were 35 inquiries altogether.

Jackson Superintendent Dr. Howard Jones will resign at the end of June. He announced his resignation in October.

When the board meets at 7:30 tonight at the board office, members will discuss the applications and select a time Friday for a closed meeting to review them.

"We're on a pretty stringent time schedule," said Jack Knowlan, board president. "If we don't move fast enough, the decisions will be made for us."

The board hopes to narrow its pool to six candidates for interviews and then make further selections for finalists.

The district asked the Missouri School Boards Association to help with its application and selection process. "Most of the search group are former superintendents, so they've had some regular contact with these people," Knowlan said.

Many of the candidates could be the same as those who applied for superintendent positions in other districts.

"We're sure we will see some of the same pool of candidates, and that is a concern," Knowlan said. "But there are some that might be interested in one job and not another."

Because of the supply and demand in the selection process, the quality of candidates could be affected. "If there are two or three who are outstanding and five or six districts who want them, then they are in better demand," Knowlan said.

But Knowlan feels good about the number of applicants in the Jackson pool. He didn't want hundreds to weed through.

"This is about what I expected," he said. "I would have been shocked if there were more and disappointed if it were less."