VIDALIA, La. – A search committee is expected to make its recommendation tonight on which of two remaining candidates should be Concordia Parish’s next school superintendent, School Board President Mike Grantham said.

Committee Chairman Mary Campbell has said the board hopes to hire a superintendent by the end of the year, but she would not comment Monday.

Grantham said he is not sure if the board will choose a superintendent at tonight’s board meeting. &uot;We’ve got to see what the committee recommends first,&uot;&160;he said.

The board’s choices are Interim Superintendent Pete Peterman and Richard Miles, assistant superintendent of human resources for Monroe’s city schools. The committee interviewed both Sept. 21.

Miles said he would not attend tonight’s meeting unless he was invited by the board. To do so at this point, he said, &uot;would be presumptuous.&uot;

Former Superintendent James Lee’s contract expired June 30 and the board voted 5-4 not to offer him a new one, following months of rumors that they would oust Lee. Peterman, the district’s assistant superintendent, has led the district since July 1.

C. Arsteal Williams, who directs training programs for the U.S. Navy in New Orleans, had also applied for the position.

But he said that late last week he got a letter from the committee that said he was not qualified because he did not have the necessary certification.

The Louisiana Department of Education requires a superintendent to have a valid Type A Louisiana teaching certificate.

He or she must also have five years of successful experience as a principal, supervisor of instruction, assistant superintendent or superintendent, or equivalent experience certified by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

A superintendent must also hold a master’s degree and have 48 semester hours of specific graduate courses.

Williams meets none of those requirements.