ACS narrows down search for Jenkins' successor

The searches for both for land and a new superintendent for Auburn City Schools are gaining steam.

The construction of the new elementary school on North College is set to start this month. Meanwhile, the acquisition of land for the new high school and replacing Dr. Terry Jenkins are still ongoing.

Jan. 10 marked the deadline for applications for ACS superintendent.

The Auburn City Schools Board of Education met with the Superintendent Search Firm. The Superintendent Finder, a Service of the Alabama Association of School Boards, delivered the names of five candidates in which they feel are highly qualified for the position of superintendent in Auburn City Schools. On Friday, January 20, the Board of Education will reconvene to select their top three candidates, who will be invited to interview with our system. The candidate interviews will be January 24 & 25 for Candidate A, January 31 & February 1 for Candidate B, and February 7 &8 for Candidate C.

The five names of candidates given to the Auburn City Schools Board of Education today were as follows:

* Dr. Karen Teague DeLano, Vestavia Hills, AL

* Dr. Pam Henson, Baldwin County, AL

* Dr. Charles (Chuck) Ledbetter, Dublin, GA

* Mr. Dale Robbins, Gwinnett County, Suwanee, GA

* Dr. Dennis Veronese, Auburn, AL

The board will then narrow those five candidates to three for interviews that will take place in the auditorium at Auburn High School. The public is welcome to attend and ask questions.

The Ad Hoc committee for ACS also met last week to identify land and make a decision on making any offers on a potential property.

"We have looked at six different plots over the past year," Jenkins said. "We have found some as low as the high $30,000s to $120,000 per acre, depending on where it is located."

The ideal price per acre would be free through charitable donation, but realistically, the board would be pleased finding a deal similar to the new elementary school with the land appraised at $80,000 per acre and being purchased for $30,000 per acre by ACS.

"Usually when you make a land purchase like this, you have 60 to 90 days from the tentative point to work various things out," Jenkins said. "So within the next 90 days, we will bring a recommendation to the board on a site."

The plan is to purchase 100 acres for the new venture.

"We have sent people in to do wetland studies," Jenkins said. "That raises questions like 'If you buy all this land, how much of it can you actually build on?'"

Jenkins mentioned the giant rocks that have been excavated at the site of the new Publix as an example of what problems can be beneath the surface.

"When I came here as superintendent I spent the first week in court in Montgomery over rock-removal where Yarbrough Elementary was built," Jenkins said. "Before we actually make a recommendation to the board to buy land we try to check out all those kind of things out so we know what we are getting into."

The new schools are being built to accommodate an increasingly growing school system and its population of students.

The student population in ACS has risen from 4,200 to more than 7,000 in the 12 years Jenkins has served as superintendent.

"As far as the high school goes there is no need to build a new stadium," Jenkins said. "We have an excellent stadium with the renovations we have done, but we would have to build baseball fields, softball fields and a track for other sports to be practiced and played on campus."

Dr. Jenkins plans to continue serving in his role as superintendent as late as July of this year overseeing the school district and all its affairs until the appropriate candidate steps in to fill his shoes.