October is proving to be a busy month for the Beaufort County Board of Education. Just how busy? The group’s calendar shows a total of eight meetings scheduled throughout the month, many of which carry a singular purpose — interviewing candidates who have applied to become the next superintendent of Beaufort County Schools.

According to Board Chairman Mac Hodges, the group has spent August and September whittling down what started as a pool of 47 candidates for the position, hailing from 11 states. This month, eight remain on the shortlist.

“We met last night (Monday) and started our interview process,” Hodges said. “We had two candidates come in, and we will have a total of eight. We had nine candidates, but we had one who withdrew.”

Hodges said the Board hopes to make an announcement about the new superintendent sometime during the holidays, in late November or December. The goal is to have the new administrator in place by Jan. 1.

“The board has worked very hard going through all the applications and the screening process,” Hodges said. “We feel like we have selected some very fine candidates to be interviewed.”

The process of filling the vacancy began in May, prior to the departure of former superintendent Dr. Don Phipps. Shortly after Phipps announced he would take on the role of superintendent for Caldwell County, the Board of Education contracted with the North Carolina School Board Association to assist in conducting a search for his successor.

As Phipps departed BCS, the Board appointed Assistant Superintendent Mark Doane to serve as interim superintendent during the search process. Throughout the month of June, the Board solicited input from the public on the qualities desired by the community in the new administrator.

While the process has been long — likely to have spanned seven months by its conclusion — Hodges complimented his fellow board members for their efforts in tackling what he called a “monumental task.”

“I cannot tell you how well this board has answered the challenge of this process,” Hodges said. “Each and every board member has gone beyond the call of duty and they are doing their very best to find the next person to lead this school system.”