NATCHEZ — Community members will soon get a chance to weigh in on the criteria used during the search for the next Natchez-Adams District School Board superintendent.

The board will be having stakeholder meetings to give the community, school administrators and teachers the opportunity to submit criteria they think would make an applicant a good candidate for superintendent.

The board met Monday with Dr. Harold Fischer, a search consultant with the Mississippi School Board Association. Fischer presented the board with the process by which the association will assist the board in finding a superintendent.

Fischer said the first step in the process is outlining the criteria for the superintendent search. Once the criteria is established, the school board association will direct the search, which he said could take six to eight months. He said it could take longer with upcoming holiday breaks.

Wayne Barnett, school board president, said the three separate stakeholders’ meetings will more than likely be on the same day at different times. Separate meeting will be conducted for teachers and administrators, but the community meeting is open to the public.

The school board will not attend any of the meetings. Fischer said the absence of the board members allows the meeting to focus solely on gathering opinions about candidate criteria and not become a discussion about other school board issues.

Fischer said anonymous surveys will be passed out at the meetings for attendees to give to people who cannot attend the meeting, so their opinions on can still be given to the board.

Fischer said having a third party direct the search allows the process to be elevated above politics.

Fischer said the school board will also choose content and photographs to go into a brochure that will be advertised to give applicants information on the school district and community.

The board discussed Nov. 1 as a possible date for the stakeholders’ meetings. The board will finalize a date at Thursday’s meeting.

Wayne Barnett, school board president, said the board would like as much public input as possible on the superintendent criteria.

“We really want to see the public come out to the meeting,” he said after the meeting.