BAY MINETTE — The next county school board member will either be a college professor, a GED instructor or a substitute teacher.

The Baldwin County Board of Education is searching for someone to fill the District 7 seat, vacated when Tracy Roberts was elected to the state school board in November.

The call for people interested in the position drew 21 applications. One person withdrew and another was deemed to live outside the district, which serves Spanish Fort, as well as Loxley and Silverhill elementary schools. The school board then pared down the list to just three, who will be interviewed publically later this week.

Tom Ward has been a college professor for the past 12 years. He is currently the chair of the history department at Spring Hill College in Mobile. Ward has three sons (8, 11 and 13) in Spanish Fort schools.

Dana Matthews is a 1981 graduate of Baldwin County High School. For the last three years, she has been an adult education instructor at Faulkner State Community College, helping people get their General Equivalency Degree. Matthews’s two oldest children graduated from Spanish Fort High School. Her son is in the ninth–grade.

Shannon Cauley is very active in the schools of her children, ages 11 and 14. In addition to being a K-8 substitute teacher, she spent two years as the president of the Spanish Fort Elementary PTA. She is currently the vice president of the PTA at the middle school.

The school board will interview the candidates Friday, Jan. 4 during a special called board meeting at the C.F. Taylor Building in Robertsdale. Cauley will spend her 30 minutes in the hot seat, starting at 3 p.m. After a short break, the board will speak with Matthews from 3:45 until 4:15. The final half-hour session with Ward will start at 4:30. The board’s deliberations will begin at 5. The board is expected to vote that evening.