By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Members of the Alabaster City Council’s Education Committee recently narrowed the pool of candidates for the city’s first school board to 10 people, who will now be interviewed by the whole City Council beginning on Feb. 16.

Over the past few weeks, members of the Education Committee interviewed more than 30 school board candidates for the upcoming five-member Alabaster board of education.

“We thought it was important to meet with each candidate individually, so it was an extensive process,” said Education Committee Chairman Scott Brakefield. “We were thoroughly impressed by the quality and quantity of all the candidates we interviewed.”

After the first round of interviews, the Education Committee narrowed the list to 10 candidates.

The remaining candidates are former teacher Linda Church, retired Saraland teacher, principal and superintendent John Myrick, UAB Executive Director of Facilities Administration Tyrone Quarles, Alabama Power employee Mike Allen, Creek View Elementary School PTO President Trisa Moutardier, current Alabaster Councilman Adam Moseley, UAB Assistant Professor of Education Melanie Shores, United Healthcare Associate Director of Medicare and Medicaid Jennifer Smith, H&R Block District Operations Manager Eric Starling and CNA Insurance Risk Control Director Henry Raymond.

Brakefield said the 10 remaining candidates each had “strong interviews” and showed they were “able to work in a team environment.”

The City Council will hold two special work sessions to interview the 10 candidates: One beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 and another beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 26. Both work sessions will be held at the Alabaster Senior Center.

After the two work sessions, the council likely will appoint the school board during its March 5 regular meeting, Brakefield said.

“It was difficult to narrow it to 10. I can’t imagine how hard it will be to get it to five,” Brakefield said.