An applicant has been chosen to serve as the next superintendent of schools in Prince Edward.

The county’s school board voted Wednesday to approve the contract offered to the female candidate.

Buffalo District Representative and School Board Chairman Russell Dove said six out of the seven board members in attendance voted to approve the contract and agreed on all terms. Farmville District Representative Sherry Honeycutt abstained from voting on the contract.

According to Dove, the next step will be to send the contract to the board’s attorney and the applicant’s attorney for review.

“We will hope to get it signed within the next couple of days,” Dove said.

The name of the selected applicant will not be released until after the signing of the contract, he said.

“It has been an honor to be involved in the superintendent search,” said Longwood University President W. Taylor Reveley IV, a member of the search committee. “I’ve been deeply impressed with the pool of candidates and the manner in which the school board has overseen the process.”

The board and its search committee had identified three candidates out of 34 applicants who fit the leadership profile developed by a culmination of community interviews and surveys.

Dove said the three finalists included two experienced assistant superintendents.

“They have diverse executive-level experiences in school divisions with similar demographics, (and) have demonstrated the ability to lead efforts that produced improved instructional results,” Dove said of the candidates.

He said he is excited to have a new school chief who will bring experience that will benefit the division and county.

Reveley said he is looking forward to the board’s decision.

“This is a juncture of enormous opportunity for our community, and it has been such a pleasure to work closely with Russell Dove and Megan Clark on the search committee,” he said.

Dove said he looks forward to formally announcing the superintendent’s identity after the contract is signed.

The vacancy for school chief came as Dr. David Smith said in November that he wouldn’t seek to renew his existing contract with the division, which ends next month.