Limestone County Superintendent Barry Carroll is not confirming that he is accepting a position at a larger system outside the state, but he said he is “keeping my options open.”

Carroll said late Thursday afternoon that he is aware that officials with Boone County Schools in Kentucky have called at least two of his principals — Matt Scott of Creekside Elementary School and Charlotte Craig of West Limestone High School — requesting input on the job he is doing in Limestone County.

However, Carroll said Boone County contacted him about the job and it is not the first school system to put out feelers toward him since Christmas.

“I’m eligible to retire in Alabama,” Carroll said. “I’ve been contacted by search firms, school boards and individuals asking me to apply in other states.”

Carroll said he had been contacted by or about systems in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. He said the contacts come through his membership in the American Association of School Administrators.

“This is a close-knit group and names and qualification are passed around,” Carroll said.

He said he had not interviewed with any other district, but he confirmed he had spoken by telephone with Boone County education officials.

“My board members know this—it’s no secret,” he said. “But I have a four-year contract with Limestone County Schools and I have every intention of fulfilling that contract to the best of my ability. But like every other person in America, if a better opportunity comes along I will just have to look at it. I’d be foolish not to.

“I have to keep my options open. I have said I don’t want to leave Limestone County but I have to do what’s right for my career and my family.”

Boone County is the third largest district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Boone County Schools, headquartered in Florence, Ky., serve more than 18,200 students and employs a staff of more than 3,200 full- and part-time employees. The 20 public schools of Boone County are located in the fast-growing area of Northern Kentucky.

Carroll is the second appointed Limestone County superintendent, with Dr. Les Bivens being the first, serving from 1997 to 2001.

Proponents of returning to an elected superintendent recently gathered more than 3,000 signatures on a petition and asked local legislators to allow voters to decide the matter. The measure has not come up in this session of the Legislature.

In an April board of education meeting, one of the proponents of returning to an elected position, Eural Claxton, stood and called Carroll and the board the “big pig and seven little piglets” for passing a resolution that favors maintaining an appointed superintendent without indicating on the agenda what the resolution concerned before voting on it.

“I haven’t been to Boone County, but I know it is a progressive area,” Carroll said. “Having not been there and not meeting the people, I don’t know much about the area, and even if I do interview with them, it doesn’t mean I’m going there.

“It makes you feel good when people pursue you. It is very humbling to know that people know you and your system as reputable and making progress.”