Two Charleston Co. superintendent finalists withdraw amid social media leak

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County School District says two of the three finalists for its superintendent position have withdrawn their names after they were leaked in a social media post earlier this week.

“To our dismay, this past Tuesday evening before the top three candidates’ names and resumes were ready to be put forth publicly, a Facebook group leaked their names,” the district said in a release.

They continued to say the release caused “confusion and frustration” among the candidates resulting in two of the three withdrawing from the selection process.

“The Board is extremely disappointed that the process of selection has been upended and has apologized for the position this put two of the candidates in,” the release states.

The district’s release comes the day after the first of three scheduled meet and greets.

Dr. Eric Gallien, a superintendent from Racine, Wisconsin, was given an opportunity to speak to the community Thursday night.

A second finalist, Dr. Charles McNulty, was scheduled to meet the community on Wednesday. The district previously said they were working to schedule the third finalist. That finalist had yet to be named.

District spokesperson Vanessa Denney said Gallien has not withdrawn his name from consideration.

The district’s board of trustees will continue the search process, Denney said.

“To uphold the integrity of the search process, and to be fair to the remaining candidate, we will be moving forward with the search as planned,” the release states.

The district retained the services of BWP & Associates on March 24 to conduct a search for a new superintendent.

Earlier this month the search firm said they had a total of 44 applicants for the position.

That list was eventually narrowed down to the three finalists.

“CCSD remains committed to an open and transparent process and will not let the actions of a few rogue actors hiding behind the cloak of social Board of Trustees media deter us from selecting the best leader for our district,” the release states.

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