With the search for a new Stephens County School Superintendent taking longer than expected, the school system will have an interim superintendent until the job is filled permanently.
Thursday, the Stephens County Board of Education unanimously voted to appoint Assistant Superintendent Jason Kaup as the Interim Superintendent effective on April 1.
Current School Superintendent Sherrie Whiten will retire from the school system effective on March 31.
The school board has realized they will not have a replacement named by that time, said Stephens County Board of Education Chair Dr. Elizabeth Pinkerton.
Appointing Kaup now allows him to prepare to serve in that role, Pinkerton said.
“We are very comfortable with it,” said Pinkerton. “Jason has done an excellent job under Sherrie and worked very well with her and we feel like he will do an excellent job.”
As for Kaup, he welcomes this opportunity.
“I think Sherrie has done a good job over her tenure here and so we want to continue that and keep everything in good shape and help the next person that comes in make a smooth transition,” said Kaup. “That is our goal.”
Kaup also stated that he did not apply for the superintendent’s position on a permanent basis.
Meanwhile, the Board of Education continued its superintendent search process on Tuesday during a meeting.
It was at Tuesday’s meeting when the board realized finding a superintendent would take longer than it expected, said Pinkerton.
“We had 31 applications that we went through,” said Pinkerton, who added that the board has narrowed it down to six at this point.
“We hope that we can interview them and come on down to a few less than that to decide on,” she added.
The Board of Education hopes to complete its interviews by the end of March and go from there, said Pinkerton.