The outgoing superintendent of the McLouth school district is a finalist to become the new superintendent for a district near Garden City.

Jean Rush, McLouth’s superintendent since 1999, is scheduled to interview today for the top administrative post in the Holcomb school district. Three other candidates already have interviewed, and members of the Holcomb school board could have the top candidate identified by this evening, said Demitry Evancho, the district’s interim superintendent.

Rush had been assistant superintendent in the Nickerson-South Hutchinson school district from 1993 to 1999 before becoming superintendent in McLouth. The McLouth district has 500 students in three schools, all educated within a single building serving rural areas of Jefferson County north of Lawrence and a small portion of adjacent Leavenworth County.

“If you can make it more than 10 years and maintain continuity in a program, then you’ve got something going for you,” Evancho said.

No matter what happens with the Holcomb job, Rush will be leaving the McLouth district by the end of the academic year. In October, members of the McLouth school board agreed that they would not extend her contract; by the end of the month, Rush had submitted her resignation, effective at the end of the academic year.

Ed Courtney, a member of the McLouth school board, said that there “had been some differences” between Rush and school principals, contributing to the decision to seek a new leader.

“She’d been here for a while, and we thought it was time for a new face,” Courtney said. “She’s actually very good with her job — very good financially, with numbers and stuff like that. But we’ve got some new board members on, and they were for a change.”

Rush earns about $80,000 a year in McLouth, a salary Courtney expects to increase for the next superintendent. He and fellow board members are meeting at 5:30 p.m. today to narrow the field of 10 applicants to four finalists, who will be scheduled for interviews next week in McLouth.

Courtney said board members could have a new superintendent selected by the end of next week.