By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Alabaster Board of Education likely will begin its search for a full-time superintendent during a special-called meeting on Feb. 27.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Alabaster Senior Center, School Board members announced during a Feb. 25 work session at the Senior Center.

During the work session, Alabaster Interim School Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hammonds encouraged the School Board to begin its search for a full-time superintendent to take over after his interim period ends on June 30.

Hammonds, the former Jefferson County school superintendent, previously said he will leave it up to the Alabaster School Board to decide who serves as superintendent after June 30.

“As you begin the search, I think you are going to attract some quality individuals,” Hammonds said. “I am extremely optimistic about the future of this school district.”

During the Feb. 27 meeting, the School Board likely will outline a job description for the full-time superintendent position, and will post the job opening across the state.

“I think we can expect to get a positive response once that (job posting) goes up,” said School Board Attorney Carl Johnson. “I think you’ll get good, solid candidates.”

In other business during the work session:

-Hammonds said the School Board will begin advertising on Feb. 27 for firms interested in providing school bus maintenance and inspection services for the Alabaster School System’s first year of operation.

“If we do that while we take a bigger look at how our transportation will look in our second or third year, I think that would help us out in so many ways,” Hammonds said.

Hammonds also encouraged the School Board to consider contracting with a firm to gather input from Alabaster school bus drivers, study the city’s bus routes and meet with Shelby County School System transportation employees before providing transportation recommendations to the Alabaster School Board.

-Hammonds said he and Alabaster City Administrator George Henry recently discussed the possibility of housing the Alabaster school system’s central office on the second floor of the new Alabaster city hall, which is under construction next to the Senior Center and is scheduled to open this summer.

Henry said the second floor currently is designed to contain a secure document storage area for the city, but said it could be modified to house about 18 central office employees if the City Council and the School Board reach an agreement on the matter.

“This is not something the City Council has even considered at this point,” Henry said.