VISITS TO CITY SLATED AS PORTION OF SEARCH PROCESS

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Two finalists for the Cape Girardeau superintendent's post will be visiting the city next week.

The two finalists who will visit Cape Girardeau are Dr. Neyland G. Clark, superintendent at Shepherdsville, Ky., and Dr. Shelton E. Smith, currently superintendent in Herculaneum, Mo.

Clark will visit Cape Girardeau Wednesday, March 13. Smith will visit Cape Girardeau Thursday, March 14.

Interviews on each day will begin at 10 a.m. when the candidate will meet with district administrators for a question and answer session.

Each day, at 3:45 p.m., a similar meeting will be held for all teachers interested in meeting the candidates. This meeting will be held at the Central High School auditorium.

"We are billing these meetings as `Meet the Candidate,'" Wiley said.

At 7:30 p.m. each day, a public meeting is planned for parents and members of the community at the Central High School auditorium. "We are hoping to get as many members of the public out as possible," Wiley said. "People will be asked to write out their questions and the candidates will have an opportunity to respond.

"I know it will be tough on the public to come out two nights in a row," Wiley said. "We are hoping enough people are really interested in who the new superintendent will be to show up both nights.

"This is an important step for this community, and the board is hoping to get as much input as possible from all these constituent groups."

Two finalists, not three as previously reported, were selected to visit the city.

"We held a great deal of discussion about a third candidate," said W. Deane Wiley, consultant for the superintendent search. "I kept pressing the board about the third candidate. I advised them that they probably didn't want to bring in someone they don't really see as a superintendent.

"I think the board finally ended up that either of these two people they could really see in this job. Now they want to put them before the community."