Applications are open for those interested in applying to be Douglas County superintendent of schools, but they won’t be for long.

School Board trustees on Tuesday decided to open recruiting for the district’s top position for five days in an effort to expedite finding Superintendent Teri White’s successor.

The board set the deadline for applications for 5 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and plans to meet March 19 to discuss the candidates.

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They hope to be able to conduct interviews the following week and perhaps make an offer by the end of the month.

White announced on Feb. 27 she planned on retiring this year.

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The debate on Tuesday focused on whether to try to hire someone from within the district or to expand a search.

White was hired as the district’s human resources director under Lisa Noonan and became superintendent after a year working for the district.

The school board split 3-3 in favor of hiring someone within the district, with Board President Robbe Lehmann and veteran trustees Tom Moore and Ross Chichester supporting the idea.

Board members Carey Kangas, Linda Gilkerson and Keith Byer backed a wider search that at least included all of Nevada.

Adding in announcing the search to a wider audience brought the board together with a unanimous vote.

Complicating the hunt is that there are three other school districts in the state looking for a superintendent, including Washoe, Nye and Elko.

Lehmann said he’d talked to principals and members of the superintendent’s cabinet about hiring Human Resources Director Keith Lewis for the position.

But he also shared an email he’d received earlier on Tuesday from the president of the Nevada Association of School Boards saying the group was helping Elko with their superintendent search.

Byer, who was attending the meeting remotely, said he felt it was important to have a larger pool of candidates to choose from.

Moore, who has been involved in hiring the last three school superintendents, said he preferred to look within the district’s ranks before trying a nationwide search.

School Board member Karen Chessell was not at Tuesday’s meeting held at Douglas High School.

Still to be resolved are screening criteria for the candidates and questions for the interviews.

White makes $150,000 a year.