The Bulloch County school board has narrowed the field of candidates to be the next district superintendent to 10.
    The board met in executive session Monday evening with Bill Sampson, the Georgia School Boards Association search consultant working with Bulloch County, district spokeswoman Hayley Greene said Tuesday.
    GSBA received 33 applications — mostly from Georgia, but a few were from elsewhere, including one from Mississippi and one from Illinois, Greene said.
    The association divided the applications into three groups: the top group, consisting of 12 candidates who met all of the school board’s criteria for the next superintendent; a group of those who met most of the criteria; and a third group of candidates who don’t meet most of the requirements but do have a standout quality or two.
    The board reviewed all 33 applications, not just the 12 the GSBA said were the top, Greene said.
    The board also reviewed a printout of all 300 responses from a survey the district had posted on its website asking people to rate the qualities they feel are most important in a superintendent.
    Board Chairman Maurice Hill told Greene that the board plans to meet within the next two weeks with the goal of choosing three finalists. That meeting date and time is expected to be set during the board’s next work session, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday. It still is undecided whether the board will hold a public forum to introduce the finalists to the community.
    The goal is to have a new superintendent in place no later than Aug. 1, which is the first day of classes for the 2012-13 school year.
    Lewis Holloway, the current superintendent, will resign effective June 30 to become superintendent of the Starkville, Miss., School District. Holloway is from Mississippi and a graduate of Mississippi State University, which is in Starkville.
    Holloway signed a four-year contract for $175,000 a year beginning July 1. The Starkville Daily News reported in February that would make him the highest-paid superintendent in Mississippi. His salary in Bulloch County is $165,150.
   
    Jason Wermers may be reached at (912) 489-9431.