Current Fairfield County School Superintendent Dr. Samantha Ingram is one of two finalists for the position of superintendent of the Montgomery (Alabama) County School District. Board of Education memners are expected to visit Fairfield County within the next two weeks.

Accoring to a story by Ashley Hopkinson, reprinted here by permission of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Ingram and one other candidate were chosen as finalists this past Saturday by the Montgomery Couny Board of Education.

Ingram was one of four candidates for superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools interviewed this past Thursday and Friday in Montgomery, Alabama by members of the Montgomery County Board of Education and the public.

The following article by Scott Johnson and Markeshia Ricks is reprinted by permission of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser.

Four candidates for the Montgomery Public Schools top job were put through their paces by board members, community groups, teachers and parents Thursday in a whirlwind of interviews that continue today.

Candidates Angela Mangum, Samantha Ingram, Barbara Thompson and Clay Slagle were grilled on everything from how they would work with the community to improve education to what their vision for the school system would be if they were appointed superintendent.

Today (Friday) they will meet with members of the City Council, County Commission, ministers, representatives from social service agencies, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce and parents and students.

The board has called a special meeting for 1 p.m. Saturday to consider the candidates, but it is not known if they will make a final decision then.

...During the School Board Members Fourm, Dr. Ingram was asked:

Why do you want to be superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools?

Ingram said she was not interested in leaving her current position until she heard that the Montgomery superintendent position was available. Ingram said she wants to return to her home state, where she previously worked for the Mobile County School System.

According to The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, the superintendent candidates continued their interviews on Friday.

At 7:30 a.m. at Central Office Auditorium, 307 S. Decatur St. The Montgomery County Board of Education will convene in a public meeting to continue the interview process for each of the candidates. Dr. Ingram is schedueld to be interviewed between 9:45 and 10:25 a.m.

The candidates are also scheduled to be interviewed on Friday by members of City Council and the County Commission, a seperate interview by a group of ministers and representatives from social service groups and an interview by representatives from the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce.

Finally, the candidates will also be interviewed on Friday by parents and students.

Following is the story by Ashley Hopkinson, reprinted by permission of the Mongomery (Ala.) Advertiser:

The Montgomery County Board of Education on Saturday narrowed the field from four to two for the open position of superintendent, eliminating interim superintendent Clay Slagle and Angela Mangum, the educational administrator for the State Department of Education.

The next step will be for board members to visit the hometowns of finalists Samantha Ingram and Barbara Thompson within the next two weeks, said Beverly Ross, the president of the board.

Ingram, who is originally from Alabama, has served as superintendent of Fairfield County Schools in South Carolina since July 2007. She formerly worked as a deputy superintendent for Mobile County Schools.

Thompson is the superintendent of schools for the New Glarus (Wisconsin) School District.

Which board members will go on which visit has not been worked out yet, said Melissa Snowden, vice president of the board. She added that she and Ross will go along on both visits.

At the special-called Saturday meeting, each of the seven board members selected their top two candidates on an open ballot, and the choices were read aloud.

Ingram received five votes, Thompson had four and Slagle, three.

The board had a heated discussion about whether or not to include all three in the next step of the selection.

Heather Sellers and Snowden, each of whom voted only for Slagle on the open ballot, argued to keep his candidacy alive. The board eventually went into executive session, and when it came out, the members had chosen to keep only the top two vote getters in contention.

Charlotte Meadows, who previously had voted for Ingram as one of her choices along with Slagle, withdrew her vote for Ingram.

That gave each of the two finalists four votes.

Meadows said she changed her vote based on information disclosed in the closed session that she could not discuss.

"I'm very disappointed that we have not come any closer on a consensus of who should lead this school system," Meadows said after the meeting. She continued to voice her support for Slagle.

"My assessment of Slagle comes from knowing him the last 18 months," she said. "I don't see how anyone else can come into this school district and start at Day 1 where (Slagle) is now.

"I don't think the process is finished," she said. "We've done about 50 percent of the work we need to do so I'm hoping that as we do the other 50 percent of the work, we get to a place where we are all in agreement. And that may even mean backing up and starting over with someone we haven't even interviewed yet."

Herald Independent editor’s note: Calls to Ingram’s Winnsboro phone number revealed that the number is temporarily out of service. Calls to Ingram’s cell phone number were not returned as of press time.

Also as of press time, service had been returned to Dr. Ingram’s home phone.