Hardin County Schools' pursuit of a new superintendent has been narrowed to a final four group of candidates, including two who currently work in the district.

Teresa Morgan, director of elementary curriculum and instruction at HCS, and Chris Reed, associate superintendent for human resources at HCS ,are joined by former LaRue County High School Principal Paul Mullins, currently superintendent of Garrard County Schools, and Mark Owens, the director of personnel at Daviess County Schools.

The Hardin County Board of Education will interview the finalists next week and each finalist will have the opportunity to visit schools and meet and greet members of the HCS staff and community.

District staff, students, parents and community members can meet each of the finalists in the Board Room at the Hardin County Board of Education from 4-5 p.m. on the following days:

Monday: Reed

Tuesday: Morgan

Wednesday: Owens

Thursday: Mullins

The community sessions will open with a meet and greet that will run until 4:15 p.m. The finalist then will introduce themselves and take some questions from the public and media until 4:45 p.m. The final 15 minutes of each session will return to a meet-and-greet format.

“We look forward to meeting and learning more about these four finalists next week,” Board of Education Chair Charlie Wise said in a district news release. “We received applications from several qualified educators. These finalists had some wonderful attributes that we felt match what we are looking for in the next Superintendent of Hardin County Schools.”

Fifteen people applied for the position — 10 men and five women. There were two applicants from outside of Kentucky; four applicants who currently are superintendents; five applicants who currently are staff members in a school district’s central office and three applicants who currently are school principals.

“We truly appreciate the hard work completed by our Superintendent Search Screening Committee,” Wise said. “The members of that committee looked carefully at each application, contacted references and were diligent in their work. The Committee was also very focused, thorough and purposeful in fulfilling what we asked it to do. The Board received a strong list of finalists to consider.”

Superintendent Nannette Johnston announced her retirement in December. She will remain in the position until June 30.