| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

Applications for the Montgomery County Superintendent's position could continue rolling in through next week, said Bill Newman, an executive with Iowa-based search firm Ray and Associates.

The postmark deadline for applicants hoping to replace former Superintendent Tiffany Anderson was Tuesday, but Newman said Wednesday that Montgomery County is "an attractive place" and the position has garnered quite a bit of attention.

He would not say how many people had applied by the deadline because he said they weren't in a "state of completion" -- meaning information had not been shared with school board members.

"The search is looking good, and we have a good number already and good quality within those," he said.

In June, the Montgomery County School board hired the firm for a base price of $19,500, with travel costs additional. They could expect to spend close to $26,000.

Newman said the firm would take about a week to compile a report on applicants. He said investigators already are performing background checks on about 10.

Representatives from the firm are scheduled to meet with board members Nov. 10 to discuss candidates.

They'll give the board a list of the entire pool of applicants but also whittle the group to about 20 who they think are the most promising.

In August, the school board decided on a group of 10 broad characteristics they'd like to see in the new superintendent: Chief among them is someone who will listen and inspire trust.

The board has said they don't need a schools chief who has been a superintendent in the past.

Anderson left the county in June to take over a small charter school in Missouri.