Jan. 17—In August, Aiken County Public School District Superintendent King Laurence announced his retirement at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Now the ACPSD Board of Education is working to narrow the pool of superintendent candidates to finalists.

The board announced it would have special-called meetings on three consecutive nights this week to begin identifying top prospective hires. The first meeting was on Tuesday, Jan. 16.

These meetings will be held at the district office located at 1000 Brookhaven Drive in Aiken.

Merry Glenne Piccolino, ACPSD director of communications, said in a statement from the school district that “no action or votes are anticipated.” This statement also said that the meetings will be held primarily in executive session, but will open and close in public session as is required for meetings of a public body.

Once identified, the district plans to publicly release the names and qualifications of superintendent finalists.

At an October board meeting, the school board voted unanimously 8-0 to negotiate a contract with the South Carolina School Board Association for superintendent search services. At this meeting, Board Chairman Cameron Nuessle said that the board “will put the time, effort and energy” into conducting the superintendent search correctly.