By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Alabaster Board of Education likely will call a special meeting in late January to review the findings of an assessment of the school facilities in the city, Alabaster Interim School Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hammonds told the Alabaster City Council on Jan. 10.

Hammonds attended the Jan. 10 council work session to update the council members on the school system’s status. The Alabaster School Board is working to finalize the city’s split from the Shelby County School System before the 2013-2014 school year begins.

The Alabaster BOE voted in November to pay the Birmingham-based Volkert company $20,000 to conduct a thorough assessment of the school facilities in Alabaster’s city limits.

Although a Volkert representative originally was scheduled to present the assessment results during the Alabaster School’s Board’s regular meeting on Jan. 14, a scheduling conflict likely will cause the School Board to call a special meeting later in the month to review the assessment, Hammonds said.

“That needs to get out as soon as possible,” Hammonds said of the assessment results.

In other business:

-Hammonds said he and School Board members finished interviewing candidates for the school system’s chief school financial officer position on Jan. 9, and said the School Board could vote to hire someone to fill the position “in a couple of days.”

“There are some critical positions you’ve got to have in place immediately,” Hammonds said, noting the chief school financial officer will help to ensure the school system’s finances are in order before the split.

-Hammonds said he has had negotiation sessions with the Shelby County School System, and said the two school boards are working to determine everything from Alabaster school attendance zones to school facility ownership.

“On those matters the two parties don’t agree on, there is a process in place for that to go to the state superintendent of education,” Hammonds said.