The Greene County Board of Education on Thursday afternoon voted to interview four finalists for the director of schools post on Thursday, Feb. 18, and to decide the same day which of the four will receive a contract offer.

The action came after the board, on a 4-to-2 vote, defeated an attempt by board members Richard Morrison and Rex Hopson to delay completion of the search process until after the Greene County Commission chooses a successor on March 15 for board member Debra Knight, who resigned last month.

The county school board, which normally has seven members, was reduced to six members by Knight's resignation.

Hopson and Morrison contended that the board should wait until the vacated seat is filled before completing the search for a new director.

Dr. Joe Parkins has announced that he will retire as director of county schools on June 30.

During the workshop, Morrison said he would make a motion to delay the process when the board convened in called session at 4:30 p.m.

Hopson said during the workshop that he had spoken with Greene County Mayor Alan Broyles about how many votes would be required to form a so-called "super majority" or two-thirds majority needed to offer an employment contract to a new director.

Hopson said that Broyles had told him it would take the votes of five board members to confirm a new schools director. But Hopson said he did not know what County Attorney Roger Woolsey's opinion on the matter was.

Board member Morrison said he believed that Woolsey would agree with Broyles that five votes would be needed.

During discussion, Parkins was asked by the board to attempt to phone Woolsey, who was said to be in court in Hamblen County.

Parkins left the meeting room and, a short time later, reported that he had reached Woolsey but that the county attorney had said that he needed time to research whether the five votes that were necessary to constitute a two-thirds majority with a seven-member board would still be required with a six-member board.

Board member Kathy Austin said she had spoken with a Tennessee School Boards Association attorney who had said that four votes would constitute a two-thirds majority of a board that had been reduced to six members by the loss of one of its members.

Board members agreed to offer the candidate a three-year contract that would, essentially, be the same contract that Parkins now has.

Parkins currently is paid $97,304 annually, including a $4,800 car allowance, plus benefits.

That amount, Austin said, falls "in the middle" of the salaries paid to other Northeast Tennessee school directors.

Board member Morrison said he wanted the finalists for the director's post to know what the position will pay in advance of interviews.

When the county school board convened in called session about 4:35 p.m., Board Chairman David Johnson told the capacity audience of teachers, school system personnel and others that the board would not be deciding on a director during the meeting.

He noted that he felt any of the four finalists for the director's post "would be an asset to the Greene County School System."

The finalists are:

* Dr. Vicki Kirk, current assistant director of the Greeneville City Schools;

* Dr. Kathy Ray, a Greene County resident who is associate director of the Madison County, N.C., Schools;

* Wayland Seaton, high school and vocational/technical supervisor of the Greene County Schools, and

* Steven Starnes, attendance supervisor of the Hawkins County Schools.

The board then voted to offer a three-year contract with a salary of $92,504 annually plus a $4,800 car allowance and benefits similar to those of other school system employees to the chosen candidate.

A timeline indicated that an employment contract is scheduled to be signed on Feb. 22, with the new director to be announced on March 1.

The board members voted unanimously to approve the proposed contract.

Morrison then made a motion to table the completion of the search process until after March 15, when the Greene County Commission is to fill the vacancy on the board created by Knight's resignation.

But board member Austin argued that the search for a new director was "too urgent" a matter to delay the process further.

Chairman Johnson commented that the previous school board, which failed to hire a new director in 2007 after several finalists dropped out, "didn't get the job done."

It is now the current board's duty to finish the job, Johnson said.

When a roll-call vote was taken on Morrison's motion to table further director search action until after the county commission fills the vacant seat on the board, only Morrison and Hopson voted in favor of the motion. Austin, Crawford, Johnson and Weems voted against it. The motion failed as a result.

"What if the lawyer says we need to have seven members?" board member Hopson asked.

Chairman Johnson replied that he would entertain a motion to change the policy requiring a two-thirds majority vote of seven members to a two-thirds majority of the six active members for the current situation only.

After Vice Chairman Crawford offered such a motion and board member Austin seconded it, the board voted 4-to-2, with Hopson and Morrison voting "No," to approve the one-time change to the board's two-third's majority policy.

(After the meeting, School Board Vice Chairman Crawford said she had been assured by the Tennessee Schools Association that the policy change, in light of the board being short a member, was permissible.)

The board voted to approve the timeline for the Feb. 18 finalist visits, interviews and selection.

After an amendment to add an hour-and-a-half session on the evening of Feb. 16 during which the finalists would meet with teachers and other school system personnel was offered by Morrison, the board voted to approve the timeline.

The timeline for the marathon event calls for:

* Finalists to meet at 8 a.m. with board members;

* Finalists to be divided into two groups and escorted by board members on visits to several county schools;

* Return to the central office at about 12:15 p.m., where contenders will be meet with teachers and classified (non-teaching) employees from 12:45 p.m. until 2:30 p.m.;

* Meet with board members, public officials and business leaders at the General Morgan Inn for a buffet meal from 3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m., and

* Interviews to begin at 5 p.m., with individual interviews to take up to 50 minutes.

During those interviews, each board member will be allowed to ask two questions of each finalist.

After the interviews are completed at 8:50 p.m., the board will convene to choose which of the four finalists will receive an offer of employment.

The new director is scheduled to take office on July 1.