The Mississippi School of the Arts will be under expertsupervision as former Mississippi School of Math and ScienceExecutive Director Dr. Carol Alderman will take the reins asinterim director as until a full-time director is chosen.

Current MSA Executive Director Dr. Vicki Lambert, who isretiring, said she believes Alderman will be a good candidate tokeep the school on the right track until the Mississippi Departmentof Education can find a permanent replacement.

“She’s an experienced, qualified educator who’s worked inschools districts as well as with the department of education,”Lambert said. “She knows the basic workings of a residential schoolso I think she’s going to do a good job.”

Deputy Superintendent for the Office of Quality Professionalsand Special Schools Dr. Daphne Buckley said Alderman was theobvious choice since she has had experience working in a specialschool. Efforts to contact Alderman were unsuccessful.

“We were looking for someone to come in, while we’re in theprocess of looking for the director, to manage day-to-dayoperations for short period of time,” Buckley said. “Dr. Aldermanis a strong administrator who understands the day-to-day operationsof a special school and understands getting it ready to start upfor the school year.”

MSMS Executive Director Charles Brown worked with Alderman forseveral months during the transition when she retired from MSMS. Hesaid she will be an asset to the school during the time she is inplace.

“I think that Vicki and Carol worked very well together over thefour years she was executive director here,” he said. “I think it’scertainly a logical choice for an interim person until the decisionfor a permanent executive director is made.”

Lambert, whose last day is June 30, said representatives of thestate department of education had met with MSA faculty and staff onFriday and told them the permanent decision will hopefully be madeby August 1.

In the meantime, Brown said, Alderman’s experience will make thesituation a good one, both for the school and for Alderman.

“She … is a workaholic, I think as an interim, Dr. Aldermanwill be excellent in helping MSA get prepared for the opening ofschool and welcoming the new students,” he said.

Buckley said that Alderman’s name is not in the hat as along-term director, and that the search for a new leader for theschool is still in full swing.

“We’re still in the process and the committee has made arecommendation to Dr. (Hank) Bounds and that’s where we are in theprocess,” Buckley said.

A committee of representatives and stakeholders from thecommunity, the arts field, the school districts, and MSA’s facultyand student body worked diligently to screen applicants to findsomeone worthy of their recommendation to take the reins fromLambert, Buckley said. But in the meantime, Alderman is the womanfor the job.

“She is a great person to transition the school, so we lookforward to working with her because she has strong leadershipskills,” Buckley said.