By Rupert Howell

A new superintendent for South Panola School District was selected Wednesday night following three evenings of closed door meetings while trustees interviewed  five of eight applicants.

Robert Timothy (Tim) Wilder, 47, currently an assistant superintendent in Grenada County, was chosen following Wednesday night’s final interview.

Trustees are expected to offer a “side contract” to get Wilder on the job at least part time, before his official contract begins July 1.

“We’re ecstatic,” trustee board president Sandra Darby said Thursday morning when announcing that a superintendent had been named.

“I am very excited about the opportunity. South Panola has a great tradition and we’re going to do some great things for students there,” Wilder said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon.

South Panola will be Wilder’s sixth school district  after 24 years as an educator, 13 of those years as administrator. He has been assistant principal in South Ponotoc, Lafayette County and a principal at Grenada Middle School.

As Grenada’s assistant superintendent, his duties include personnel director, student activities director (which includes sports), 16th Section Lands, and purchasing agent.

He and his wife, Sherri, have two children, a son J. C. who is a teacher, and daughter Jessi, a senior at Blue Mountain College.

The board opened the process of replacing Dr. Keith Shaffer who announced his retirement late last year. The board immediately contracted with Mississippi School Board Association to manage a search for his replacement before hiring retired Lafayette County Superintendent Mike Foster to serve the district as superintendent in interim.

The new superintendent’s contract will be for two years and will include incentives according to Darby. She said they took the former superintendent’s contract and another contract with that included the incentive  and goals package and came up with one that suited the local board.

The new superintendent will immediately be tasked with hiring an assistant superintendent and a high school principal as Principal Tim Fowler and his wife, Ginger, will be returning to the West Point area. The former assistant superintendent, who resigned in 2012, has not been replaced.

Darby said that because of those vacancies, the board wanted the new superintendent to come on board as soon as possible. She noted that the interim superintendent would continue to assist with the transition as long as needed. His contract can run as long as June 31, but he has said he would be available afterward if needed.