Polk School District Superintendent Dr. Billy Pack is one of four candidates being considered for the superintendent’s position for the City of Leeds School System in Alabama.

Dr. Pack told The Standard Wednesday that the system has three schools and about 1,500 students.

“It’s a new school system that used to be part of the Jefferson County School System, he explained.

Leeds is east of Birmingham off Interstate 20.

Dr. Pack has been superintendent of the Polk School District for the past three years.

The school board voted 6-3 in September to grant Pack a one-year contract extension.

A board member, who did not want to be identified, confirmed to the Standard that Dr. Pack was given an evaluation recently by the board.

Other board members told the Standard earlier this year that Dr. Pack had not had an evaluation during his entire tenure until recently before his contract was extended.

The board’s failure to evaluate Dr. Pack on a yearly basis violates state requirements and also violates the terms of Dr. Pack’s contract, according to Dr. Harold Wingfield, board member, who spoke to the Standard earlier this year, regarding the matter.

Nick Smith, communications director with the Georgia Department of Education, confirmed the fact that superintendents must be evaluated annually by their local board.

The only reason given for not evaluating Dr. Pack was that some board members would balk at the process everytime it was brought up, according to Dr. Wingfield.

It was also learned by the Standard that Dr. Pack has not been given a raise during his three years of service to the Polk School District.

During the September meeting, the board conducted a very brief meeting that was open to the public, then sequestered themselves behind closed doors for roughly four hours to discuss Pack’s contract extension terms.

At the end of the closed session that mainly centered around a line-by-line breakdown of Pack’s performance evaluation, board member Regina Roberts made a motion to grant Pack a one-year contract extension to “address concerns shared by the school board.”

Though no remarks were allowed to be expressed publicly during the meeting, the board appeared to share weighty concerns among one another as raised voices could be heard from behind the closed doors.

Voting for the one-year contract extension were board members Regina Roberts, Harold Wingfield, Bettie Faye Lewis, Guy Rutland, Beth Warner and board Chairman Rick Lundy.

Voting against the motion were members Harold Lumpkin, Frank Plant and Tommy Sanders.

Sworn in as Polk County Superintendent of Schools on Oct. 10, 2000, Pack replaced former Polk Superintendent Jimmy Carter. Pack’s original three-year contract was set to expire sometime next month. His contract with the Polk School District will be up for review once again in October of 2004.