Cincinnati school board members will interview candidates as early as today for superintendent, but they don't know who those candidates will be.

        Eighteen resumes have been released to the media, but board members said they don't know if any of those candidates are the ones they will interview.

        “Presumably, we'll be introduced,” board member Jack Gilligan said.

        Board members said the secrecy will help them attract the best applicants to lead the 42,000-student district. That's because applicants don't want to publicize that they're job-hunting.

        Board members have two private meetings scheduled today and Friday at the Marriott Kingsgate Conference Hotel in Corryville. They expect to interview several candidates.

        The district hired Proact Search Inc., a Milwaukee-based executive search firm, to screen applicants who could replace Steven Adamowski.

        He left last month to take a position at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

        The search firm seeks candidates who match criteria established by the board and with input from some community members.

        The majority of board members on Wednesday said they believe the search firm will bring them the best possible candidates, and they're not concerned they don't know who they are.

        “It's the responsibility of the search firm to do the background research,” board member Florence Newell said. “I'm confident the candidates we're going to interview are going to meet the criteria.”

        Board President Rick Williams said he'll ask candidates how they would guide the district to continue the education reforms that are in process, while also helping the district to improve. He said the board willconduct more interviews if needed.

        Sue Taylor, president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers union, said she hopes this round of interviews is just the first step.

        “I'm just astonished,” she said. “As teachers, we believe in doing our homework. I would think the board members would need to do some research to ensure that what candidates put on resumes matches the real work they've done.”

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