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An upcoming vacancy on the Moss Point school board has drawn nine applicants, including the man who currently holds the seat, Mayor Aneice Liddell said.

MOSS POINT, Mississippi -- An upcoming vacancy on the Moss Point school board has drawn nine applicants, including the man who currently holds the seat, Mayor Aneice Liddell said.

Longtime board member Joe May's term expires next month, and the Board of Aldermen will be interviewing candidates for the seat this week.

School board members serve five-year terms, and terms are staggered so that one expires each year in mid-March.

Moss Point's school board consists of appointed members Clifton Magee, Angela Haynes, Auwilda Polk and May, and elected member Dixie McCormack.

May, 66, graduated from Moss Point High School in 1964 and Mississippi State University in 1969, earning a bachelor's degree in industrial technology.

May, who is retired from Ingalls Shipbuilding, was first appointed to the school board in 1988.

Others applying for the post are Jansie Jones Butler, Zollie Price-Clayter, Alphonse Crosby, Burell Lee, Carolyn Moore, Robin Morris, Martha Watjus and Willie C. Williams.

Several of those applicants -- including Butler, Watjus and Williams -- have been employed by the school district.

Moore, who graduated from Moss Point High School in 1975, currently serves as chief professional officer for United Way for Jackson & George Counties and is on the Jackson County Port Authority's Board of Commissioners.

Liddell said she is pleased that so many residents applied and noted she believes that city aldermen have been more active in recruiting applicants.

"It's time for people to step up to the plate and take an active interest," she said.

To be eligible to hold the office of school district trustee, one must be a resident and a qualified elector of the district. Applicants also must hold a high school diploma or its equivalent.

The deadline to apply has passed.

When first discussing the expiring term, Alderman Sherwood Bradford called for his fellow board members to carefully weigh the candidates this year.

"We need to take this appointment very seriously," he told them. "Our school district is up against the wall."

Last March, aldermen chose not to reappoint member Charles Wesley, who was serving as school board president at the time.

Instead, city leaders appointed Haynes to the board because it was "time for change."