KENANSVILLE — Going against the desire of residents who filled out a survey saying they wanted a local superintendent, the Duplin County Board of Education voted Thursday night to hire a superintendent from out of the state.

That vote comes on the heels of the resignation Wednesday night of Dr. Austin Obasohan from his superintendent’s post with Selma (Alabama) City Schools. Obasohan, the Selma Times reported in its online edition Thursday, resigned to accept a job with Duplin County Schools.

Obasohan will replace Dr. Wiley Doby who will leave his Duplin post at the end of June.

Duplin school board vice chairman Chuck Farrior said Thursday morning that the board had been in contract negotiations with someone but nothing would be official until Thursday night’s meeting.

Neither board chairman Reginald Kenan nor member Jennings Outlaw would comment on the board’s selection Thursday morning.

Ironically, word of Obasohan’s hiring reached Selma via Duplin County during the day Wednesday, prior to the superintendent’s announcement to his board that evening.

Karen Scalf, representing the Citizens for the Children and the Checkbook (CCC), stated that her group felt he school board had not been up front in their disclosure regarding the hiring of Obasohan.

“It came out in the Selma Times-Journal Wednesday night, and (there was ) a full article on Thursday that stated that the Selma City superintendent had resigned to accept the position in Duplin County.”

Scalf said all that was done prior to any “open” vote on a superintendent in Duplin County.

“ I do not think anyone is going to resign his position with a year remaining on his contract without having some guaranteed assurances he had the job,” she stressed.

Scalf did state that the CCC had made inquiries in the Selma area but had not spoken to anyone. She feels someone either from the school board or the central office must have provided the information to the Selma paper.

In the article published by the Selma Times-Journal it was stated, “Obasohan announced his resignation Wednesday during the school board meeting at Sophia P. Kingston Elementary School. The Selma Times-Journal had first reported earlier in the day that the Dublin County

“There have been some challenges and there will continue to be some challenges,” the superintendent is quoted as saying in the Journal article, where he talked about his decision to take the job in Dublin. He thanked the students, teachers, principals, staff and parents for working with him since he was hired in July 2008.

“This is kind of a sad occasion for me with Dr. Obasohan giving us the information he gave us tonight,” school board president Henry Hicks Sr., who has worked closely with the superintendent, was quoted as saying in the Journal.

According to Leesha Faulkner’s article, Obasohan moved from Concord, N.C. to Selma to lead the school district. He has a doctorate from Appalachian State University. No salary information was provided.

Doby receives compensation documented to be $177,231 plus the use of a vehicle as Duplin’s superintendent. If Obasohan receives a comparable salary, it would be a sizable increase from the $118,000 he had received from the Selma City Schools. Details of the new superintendent’s contract were not available at press time.

To contact Billy Todd, call 910-592-8137 ext. 117 or e-mail siobits@heartlandpublications.com.