The Little Rock School Board voted Tuesday to extend invitations for second interviews, which would be in-person, to two applicants for superintendent of the 21,000-student district.
The two finalists are George "Eric" Thomas, currently an education leadership consultant with the University of Virginia; and Jermall Wright, a Mississippi-state-employed superintendent for what have been two low-achieving school systems.
The School Board voted 8-0 in public with board member Evelyn Callaway absent to extend the invitations after meeting for more than two hours in a closed executive session.
Tuesday's meeting followed the board's initial on-line interviews last week with Thomas, Wright and two other candidates - Stephanie Jones who works in the Chicago public school system and Lloyd Jackson, an assistant superintendent in the Kansas City, Mo., school district. Jackson is a former high school principal and deputy superintendent in Hot Springs.
The School Board is working to select a replacement for current Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore, 60, who has said he will retire at the end of June after six years as the district’s chief executive.