The Polk School Board moved one step closer to finding a replacement for former Superintendent Marvin Williams during a work session meeting held recently.

Chairman Chuck Thaxton informed members of the board that the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA), was ready to meet with the board and present them with a list of candidates that met the qualifications required by the Polk board.

The school board voted in September to hire the GSBA to head the search for a new superintendent after Williams announced he would retire on Nov. 30.

Jim Puckett, GSBA board development specialist said the GSBA would take care of placing notices of the opening and meeting legal requirements and well as reviewing resumes and selecting a list of qualified candidates to bring before the board.

However, Puckett said it would be the school board’s responsibility to select and hire the new superintendent.

Board members Tommy Sanders and Jane Holbrooks made a motion to schedule an executive session meeting with the GSBA to review the candidate applications on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013.

“There’s going to be a new board in January,” Sanders said. “The new board members can’t sit in on executive session meetings until they are sworn in, so we need to wait until they can be a part of it.”

The motion passed in unanimous vote.

Also during the meeting, board member Grady McCrickard was selected to be the contact person between the GSBA and the Polk board.

Ray Hammett, interim superintendent, said a public announcement of the candidates will be made once the board has narrowed the list of candidates to three choices.