After Washoe County School District Superintendent Paul Dugan announced his retirement in January, the district hired a search firm and started their quest for a new school district leader.

However, four candidate interviews and several withdrawals later, the job remains unfilled. So, the district opened up the application process again and today at noon, the WCSD Board of Trustees will narrow down that pool of applicants to about six and schedule interviews.

The fresh round of interviews will start Monday morning at 7:30 a.m.

“These people will get a call and they will literally have to be ready to jump on a plane,” school district spokesman Steve Mulvenon said.

Mulvenon said he did not know who the candidates were, and due to employment privacy laws, their names would not be disclosed in preliminary materials or at today’s meeting.

At a board meeting in early May, the trustees chose to reopen the search process for a period of 30 days. The decision was made after several of the board-selected candidates withdrew their applications.

The district’s Board of Trustees hired Jim Huge and Associates as its search firm in February.

According to firm president Jim Huge, the candidates who withdrew did not do so on account of the quality of the district.

“They were very impressed with this district and the board,” Huge said. “They said this district is poised to move to the next level but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

Dugan officially retires Aug. 1, raising concerns that time may be running out for future on-the-job training from Dugan.

According to Mulvenon, those candidates who are being interviewed have experience in the realm of school district administration and would not need a long training period in their first weeks on the job.

According to Mulvenon, they should be able to “hit the ground running.”

The meeting will start at 12 noon and will be held in the Administration Building Board Room at the Washoe County complex, 425 E. Ninth St.