Dr. Martin G. "Marty" Waters, former principal of Statesboro High School and now interim superintendent of the Evans County school system in Claxton, has been named one of three finalists for the permanent job.

Waters started as interim superintendent four days before July 1, the day that previous Evans County Superintendent Dr. Joy Collins began her retirement. But the Evans County Board of Education had worked through the Georgia School Boards Association on a search for a permanent superintendent, and 28 people applied.

The system consists of three schools, all in Claxton, enrolling more than 1,800 students.

During the board's regular meeting Monday evening, members met in closed session twice and then named the three finalists. The Georgia Open Records Act requires that information on finalists to head an agency be released at least 14 days before a hiring decision, and the Statesboro Herald obtained Waters' resume and the other two finalists' applications.

Three finalists

The other finalists are Dr. David K. Smith, principal of Jefferson High School in Jefferson for 14 years now, and Dr. Sherrod D. Willaford, who since November has been a substitute principal for the Fulton County Schools in Atlanta. But Willaford was previously executive director of the Norfolk City Schools in Norfolk, Virginia, and principal of an elementary school in Conyers.

Waters was Statesboro High principal from April 2005 until his June 2014 resignation and campaigned for Bulloch County Probate Court judge earlier this year, coming in third of five candidates in the May primary. A resident of the Nevils community in Bulloch County, he began his career in 1998 as a history teacher at Pinewood Christian Academy, a private school in Evans County, before going to Statesboro High as a business education teacher the next year.

The Evans County Board of Education has a special meeting slated for Aug. 30, when members could vote to hire one of the three finalists.