Columbia Public Schools announced in an e-mail to staff Friday it decided on four final candidates to interview for the position of superintendent of schools. The Board of Education has not released the names of the candidates but will be interviewing them over several days to come.
The position of superintendent was left open following the announcement that superintendent, Chris Belcher, would retire at the end of this June. Superintendent Belcher had been considering this move since mid-December of last year. He has since accepted a position at the University of Missouri's College of Education. Starting September 1, he begins as an assistant teaching professor within MU’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
The Board of Education said after narrowing its choices from 18 to four candidates, it will make another announcement about the superintendent position after scheduling community forums.