Unlike a search five years ago, the public won’t get to see and hear from finalists, the school board decided Thursday night.

Instead, officials will host five meetings in August to ask residents and school system employees what qualities they would like to see in the school system’s next leader.

Those forums — three for the public and two for the system’s more than 2,100 employees — will be scattered around the county. No dates or places have been set.

Thursday night, the school board met with Dr. Ed Dunlap, director of the N.C. School Boards Association, to ask how it should attract and screen candidates for the position. Members hope to announce a replacement for retiring Superintendent Dr. Joe McCann by Nov. 1. That’s six days before an election for three of seven seats on the school board.

Dunlap said the first question the board should answer is whether a current employee of the school system is an obvious choice. Don’t conduct a “fake” search for people from other areas only to hire an inside candidate, he suggested.

Dunlap also discouraged the board from making candidates’ names public — or disclosing them to school administrators — before a final selection.

“There will be many people all over the community who will come out of the woodwork and try to help you make your decision for you,” he said. “... You’re not going to get a capable, competent pool (of applicants) by naming candidates. People aren’t going to jeopardize their current positions unless there’s a significant chance you’re going to hire them.”

Bost proposed naming the final five candidates to the public before any hire. “How does the public know if the search is fake if kept closed?” he asked. “People mistrust what they do not know is going on behind closed doors.”

The five other members present voted to ensure confidentiality of all candidates until a final decision. They also agreed to pay the N.C. School Boards Association $3,750 to begin advertising the superintendent position and processing applications.

School systems throughout North Carolina vary greatly in how much they allow the public to participate in selection of school superintendents. Five years ago, McCann and two other finalists for the position here were very well publicized.

Spokeswoman Sandra Frye said Guilford County schools in Greensboro recently held a reception for two superintendent finalists where the public could ask questions of them.

Charles Tyson, chairman of the 4,000-student Asheboro city schools, said a questionnaire was circulated there last year. Residents could pick up copies at the local library, schools and banks and describe what qualities they would like to see in a superintendent. Tyson, who led the search there, said the response was less than expected, and the Asheboro board kept the four finalists’ names secret.

“We came to the conclusion that we had no major issues that the community was concerned about, and they felt pretty good about what we were doing,” Tyson said. “ ... This is not a public matter. It is for the school board.”

In nearby Stanly County’s 10,500-student system, a committee of school board members received applications last year from 17 candidates and interviewed six of them. The public had no opportunity to meet the finalists, said Melvin B. Poole, chairman of the Stanly County Board of Education.