SELMA — Selma City School Board members have selected Donald Jefferson, Ph.D. as its choice for interim superintendent.

The school board unanimously approved Jefferson on the recommendation of the Alabama Department of Education.

School board president Henry Hicks said a negotiating team will sit down with Jefferson to hammer out details of a contract. If he takes the job, Jefferson will begin July 1 officially, but will work before July 1 with superintendent Austin Obasohan, Ed. D., to ensure a smooth transition.

Hicks appointed himself, Holland Powell of District 1 and school board attorney Katy Campbell to the negotiating team.

Campbell said the school board has about four months, perhaps more, during which to conduct a search for a new superintendent.

Jefferson is no stranger to Selma.

He is a former principal of Selma High School. He has worked in schools statewide, including in the Auburn-Opelika-Tuskegee area, Enterprise, Daleville and in Covington County.

In 2007, Jefferson was a finalist for the then-vacant superintendent’s post in Selma.

Jefferson is administrative assistant in the LEA Compliance Review program at the state Department of Education, which monitors public school systems for compliance with laws and regulations.

Obasohan resigned about three weeks ago. He will leave July 1 to be superintendent’s at Duplin, N.C.