By Casey Castle

More interviews could be in order for the Clark County School district superintendent search.

The Clark County Board of Education discussed the open superintendent position for nearly three hours Thursday night, but there has been no announcement on who will replace Elaine Farris, who will retire this summer.

The board has interviewed four candidates for the position, wrapping up the sessions Wednesday night. The panel went into executive session just minutes after the meeting began at 6:30 p.m. and discussed the personnel matter until 9:20 p.m.

“No decision was made,” said David Baird of the Kentucky School Boards Assocation. “The board did decide they want to conduct some second interviews.”

Those could come early next week, depending on the availability of the applicants, Baird said.

Paul Christy, Mike Stacy, Lisa Stone and Sam Watkins were selected with help by a screening committee, and the four each met with the board over the past two weeks. Meet-and-greet sessions were held for each of the four at Central Office just prior to their interviews with the board.

Christy is the director of district operations for Clark County, Stacy is the chief academic officer for Woodford County Schools, Stone is the director of school improvement for the Montgomery County School District and Watkins is the education recovery leader at the Kentucky Department of Education.

All four are still in the running, Baird said.

“At this point, no one has been eliminated,” he said.

The board is not obligated to have a replacement hired by any particular date, and board members can take their time. But Farris will vacate the position this summer.

“The process seems to be working well,” Baird said. “The board members are working very hard to come up with the best fit for Clark County. It’s a difficult job, but it’s a job where they have four excellent candidates to choose from.”