From current superintendents to area coordinators and even a chief executive officer, a "wide spectrum" of applicants is interested in the position of superintendent of Oconee County Schools, Chairman of the Board of Education David Weeks said at a meeting on Monday.

As of last Friday, the Georgia School Boards Association, consultants the Board hired to assist in the search for John Jackson's replacement when he retires at the end of the current school year, had received 33 applications.

Applications needed to be postmarked by Jan. 6, so the Board expects to receive a final count later this week, Weeks said.

"They're giving the mail some time to trickle in those last couple of applicants," he said.

Weeks said the GSBA has communicated some basic statistics about the applicants, which include five current superintendents, some former superintendents and assistant superintendents, area coordinators, a state director and a chief executive officer, among others.

The majority of applications -- 20 -- came from Georgia; three were submitted from Florida and two from North Carolina, he said.  Applicants from Oklahoma, Indiana, Connecticut, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Louisiana are also interested.

"We'll be getting with the GSBA later this month to review all of the applications and hopefully start the interviewing process either at the end of this month or, at the very latest, the early part of February," Weeks said.