Two high school coaches were tapped as new elementary school principals and a firm was hired to conduct the search for a new superintendent of schools by Vicksburg Warren School trustees Thursday.

Randy Broome, Vicksburg High School assistant principal and former head baseball coach, was tapped as the new principal at Redwood.

Chris Perritt, Warren Central assistant principal and softball coach will lead Beechwood.

Broome will replace Charles “Bubba” Hanks and Perritt replaces Jack Grogan. Both Hanks and Grogan will retire June 30.

The search for candidates to replace Superintendent Dr. James Price, who also retires June 30, will be conducted by McPherson and Jacobson, the high bidder.

Trustees voted 3-2 for the Omaha-based firm, with District 2 Trustee Zelmarine Murphy, board president, joining Jerry Boland of District 1 and District 3 Trustee Jim Stirgus Jr.

District 4 Trustee Joe Loviza and District 5 Trustee Tommy Shelton favored an offer by the Mississippi School Boards Association.

McPherson and Jacobson will be paid $16,500, which includes a guarantee that the new superintendent will remain on the job during his or her initial contract — one to two years — or the search will be repeated at no additional cost. Expenses such as printing and advertising in national school journals are not included.

MSBA quoted fees of $9,500, plus all travel, lodging, meals, printing, telephone, advertising and other expenses.

A third firm, Educational CEO Search Inc., would have done the job for $11,500, all expenses included.

Boland said the deciding factor for him was the emphasis on recruiting that Dr. Tom Jacobson stressed during his presentation.

“I honestly believe (our next superintendent) is working somewhere else right now, and we’ve got to go and recruit this person, we’ve got to sell them on our community, we’ve got to sell them on our school district and we’ve got to sell them on our wonderful kids,” Boland said.

Murphy said she phoned several other school districts for which McPherson and Jacobson had helped find superintendents and their referrals helped her make the decision.

One task remaining for the board is to approve a budget for the coming year. Thursday, Murphy asked Dale McClung, finance manager, to provide trustees with line-item copies of the $80 million spending plan.

The proposed budget was presented at a public forum March 25, but has not yet been adopted. Schools operated on the same budget year as the state, which starts July 1.

Price said copies would be printed and made available to trustees next week.

Price told the board that Broome has 13 years with the district, two in administration at VHS. His salary is $61,067. Perritt is also a 13-year district veteran with four years as assistant principal. He is paid $64,523.

Both have proper training and certification to move from high school to elementary school, Price said.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com