The Troy City Schools board members spent slightly more than hour Monday in executive session, narrowing down the field of superintendent candidates the five individuals who will be interviewed.

Those candidates include Dr. Boyd English, principal, Emanuael City Schools, Twin City, Ga.; Dr. Mike Hall, principal, Pike County High School; Lee Hicks, principal, Prattville High School; Dr. Alan Miller, director of special education, Eufaula City Schools; and Alexis Seymore, superintendent, Dawson Springs Board of Education, Dawson Springs, Ky.

“The interviews will probably begin within the next week at the board office,” president Roxie Kitchens said at the called board meeting on Monday evening.

Nearly 30 members of the community, including district teachers and parents, attended the called meeting, most waiting until the end of the executive session to hear the results. “I think it shows that we’re interested and we care about who’s going to be our superintendent,” said Elly Reeves.

Dr. Judson Edwards, vice president of the school board, oversaw the selection process, which was conducted in the executive session. “Basically, we had a ranking system,” he said of the 23 applications received. “Each board member ranked their top five candidates, one through five, and turned the results over the board attorney. He announced the results to the board.”

The results were presented in alphabetical order. Both Edwards and Kitchens said board members did not discuss their rankings with each other prior to the meeting, and keeping those rankings confidential was of utmost importance. “I feel really good about the system we used,” Kitchens said. “We never told anybody who our top five were.”

“Board members have not seen the results nor will they see the results,” said Jimmy Mathews, interim superintendent.

The interviews, which could begin as soon as Thursday afternoon, will be conducted in open meetings, meaning the public can attend. “We still haven’t decided if we will present the candidates questions prior to the interviews or not,” Kitchens said. “Judson and I will decide that.”

Kitchens said board members may be required to ask the same questions of each candidate. And, she said, any members of the public who would like to submit suggestions for questions can do so via email to Mathews, mathewsj@troyschools.net.

“We still haven’t decided what questions we will ask,” she said. “And depending on the time frame and availability of the candidates, that will determine if we have an hour or an hour and a half for the interviews.”

Edwards said the board hopes to conduct the interviews in a three-day span, meaning two interviews likely will be held on the same day.

Board members hope to have interviews conducted and an offer prepared by the rescheduled monthly board meeting on June 27. They also hope administrative officials will have completed interviews for both the middle school and high school principal vacancies at that time.

“We’re going to try and schedule these interviews as fast as we can,” Edwards said.