Neither of the two candidates for Escambia County superintendent is a stranger to the system — and they will sit for public interviews Thursday with the board of education.

Interviews will be held Thursday at Flomaton High School, and the public is invited, said board attorney Broox Garrett.

Current Interim Superintendent Randall Little and Escambia County High School Principal Zickeyous Byrd have each filed an application for the position following the retirement of Billy Hines in December 2011.

According to Garrett, Byrd will be interviewed first Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Little’s interview is scheduled to follow at 6 p.m. Each interview is expected to last one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes and, although the public is invited to attend, they will not be permitted to ask the applicants questions.

Both Little and Byrd bring administrative experience to the table. Byrd, currently in his second year as principal at ECHS, also spent five years as principal at Escambia County Middle School. Prior to his employment in Escambia County Byrd spent three years with the

Mobile County Training Middle School. In 2003 he served as the school’s Title 1 facilitator/technology coordinator/adult literacy teacher.

From 2004 until 2005 he served as an administrative intern. Byrd began his career in education in 1999 as a teacher at Morning Side Elementary School in Mobile and, in 2003, took his first administrative job as principal of the Mertz Elementary summer school program.

Little has also spent years in the education system and has served as Escambia County’s assistant superintendent since 2006. Little began his career in education in1973 as a teacher at Warren Central High School in Vicksburg, Miss. He began his career as an administrator in 1984 as the seventh grade principal for the Vicksburg Warren School and became assistant principal of Warren Central High School in 1986. From 1987 through 1989 Little taught at Natchez-Adams Schools in Natchez, Miss. He served as an administrative assistant/teacher at Warren Central High School from 1989 until 1992. From 1992 until 1993 Little once again served as seventh grade principal for the Vicksburg Warren School. Little retired from the Mississippi school system in 1999 after serving six years as the director of personnel/assistant superintendent for the Natchez-Adams School District. In 1999 Little began his career in Alabama as assistant principal of W.S. Neal High School where he served until assuming the position of assistant superintendent in 2006.

Little attended Hinds Community College in Raymond, Miss., where he earned an Associate of Arts Degree in social science and biology. He received a bachelor of science degree in education and social science and a master of education in history/education/administration from Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss. Little also received an Ed. S. diploma from Auburn University.

Byrd earned an associate of arts degree in general studies and a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Concordia College in Selma and a Masters of Education from the University of South Alabama. He is currently a candidate for an educational doctorate degree program at Walden University.