Tennessee man could be superintendent finalist

BY BRAD A. HODGES
SALISBURY POST

The superintendent of schools in Blount County, Tenn., would not confirm or deny this morning whether he is one of two finalists to be the next superintendent of Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

Without announcing their overnight trip, four people on the seven-member Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education traveled to Blount County on Nov. 16 to interview a candidate and references there, members have said. The area is on the south side of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee.

Dr. Gary Pack, superintendent of the 12,000-student system there, wouldn’t say if he was interviewed. He did tell the Post he was “working through several organizations” for career opportunities.

Dr. Bettie Starr, school board chairwoman for the 20,000-student Rowan-Salisbury school system, also wouldn’t say whether Pack is one of the two finalists. But she wouldn’t deny it either.

The board meets at 6 tonight at 314 N. Ellis St. and plans to discuss a contract for a new superintendent with an attorney for the N.C. School Boards Association, Starr said.

“We’re just trying to conduct the search while following the letter of the law,” she said. She said the board consulted with an attorney for the N.C. School Boards Association. An attorney for the N.C. Press Association has said, however, that school board members may have violated the state’s open meetings law, because they did not say they planned to reconvene their two-day closed session in Knoxville.

Originally from Kentucky, Pack, 52, was one of five finalists for superintendent of Blount County schools two years ago. Officials there selected him after a nationwide search and a public interview that lasted an entire day, a reporter for the Knoxville News-Sentinel said this morning. Tennessee law requires searches for superintendents and other public officials to be conducted in public.

According to the Web page for Blount County schools, Pack has spent most of his career in Kentucky, where he received a doctorate from the University of Louisville. He has been a teacher, assistant principal and high school principal.

The search for a superintendent of Rowan-Salisbury schools began in July, when Dr. Joe McCann announced his retirement at the end of the year. School board members held forums all over Rowan County for residents to comment.

Since then, board members have said virtually nothing publicly about their search and have conducted all negotiations in closed meetings.