One thing all four candidates for the Wood County Superintendent's job have in common is ties to West Virginia...and three have ties to Wood County. The superintendent of Pocahontas County Schools was among the first graduates of Parkersburg South High School, and common ground is what he emphasized.

"A common focus, a common belief and a common understanding in where we're going and what we are going to do," said Dr. James Patrick Law, current superintendent of Pocahontas County Schools.

Sue Woodward has been an administrator in Wood County, which includes being a principal in its elementary school system.

"The most important experience you can have is filling that position of classroom teacher for a group of elementary students," Woodward said.

Among the seven questions each candidate was asked, was regarding dealing with the "No Child Left Behind" policy, and an issue some local schools have had to face nearly every year: that of adequate yearly progress.

"Just because of school met AYP and another school didn't meet AYP," says Kenneth Ratliff, current assistant superintendent at Fairland Local Schools in Ohio, "it may mean one school didn't have sufficient numbers to be rated."

Another question dealt with layers of administration...something one candidate believes might change with projected changes in enrollment.

"If you have a drop-off in students," according to Wood County Schools Director of Federal Programs, "that means a loss of teachers, and then a loss of administrators."

The four who appeared Saturday were the only four who applied for the superintendent's post. But one audience member was impressed by all of them.

"It might have been better if there were more than four," says Shelia Sargent, of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, "but I think we have four good candidates, so it doesn't really matter."

While the audience wasn't allowed to ask questions, their written evaluations of the candidates may affect what choice the board of education ultimately makes.