Nearly all of the Fulton County school board members are in Tennessee today, finishing a two-day visit to the home district of the finalist they selected to be Fulton’s next superintendent.
Six of the seven Fulton board members traveled to Williamson County, Tenn. for meetings that began Monday. Their schedule includes talking with parents, school board members, and top leaders of the school district that Mike Looney has led for nearly a decade.
Last week, the Fulton school board announced Looney is its only finalist for the superintendent job, created by the fall resignation of Jeff Rose.
The school board is scheduled to vote on hiring Looney on May 2, following a mandatory two-week public comment period.
Looney, 56, is the superintendent of Williamson County Schools, a 40,000-student district located in Franklin, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville.
The Fulton school board started its trip Monday with visits to Williamson County schools and a meeting with Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, according to an itinerary provided by Fulton County Schools.
The board also was scheduled to meet with leaders of a parent-teacher organization, several school board members, and the Williamson district's chief financial officer and other high-ranking district administrators.
Today, the Fulton board members are expected to meet with a county commissioner, past school board members, two newspaper reporters, a pastor and other faith and community leaders.
Fulton County Schools spokesman Brian Noyes said that the board worked with Looney and his staff to coordinate the trip.
Fulton school board President Linda Bryant was not feeling well and did not make the trip, Noyes said.
The Fulton board received applications from 40 qualified candidates and interviewed seven.
Georgia law allows school districts to keep much of the search process confidential, but does require districts to furnish limited information about the applicant pool.
The 40 candidates included 32 men and eight women, said Glenn Brock, an attorney for the Fulton district who helped the board with its search.
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