Concerns over who could authorize financial documents for the Selma City Schools prompted school board president Henry Hicks to schedule a work session for Monday.

Unfortunately, when the clock struck 1 p.m., only Hicks, school board member Udo Ufomadu and interim superintendent Gerald Shirley were present, along with more than 50 concerned parents and citizens.

The absence of board members Frank Chestnut Jr., Holland Powell and Brenda Randolph Obomanu left the questions he was hoping to ask unanswered, Hicks said.

“I was hoping that they would come because the finances we are dealing with is the most important thing for the system,” he said. “I just wanted some clarity that our interim superintendent is okay to sign off on the paperwork that has to go to the state (Tuesday).”

Calls to the state school board, Hicks said, left him concerned about the process of filing paperwork that is approaching a Tuesday deadline.

“I talked to the state financial director and he had some concerns,” he said. “I was just trying to make sure that when we come up with our funding for 2012 and 2013, we have the funding we need and don’t have any questions about whether our interim superintendent is legal.”

In a letter sent to executive director of the Alabama School Board Association Sally Howell, Hicks questioned the legality of the board appointing Shirley as interim superintendent.

The Monday meeting, Hicks said, could have helped to answer some of the questions submitted to the state.

Hopefully, Hicks said, more answers will come during the Tuesday work session, which is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Central Office Board Room.

“The purpose of this meeting was simply to make sure our interim superintendent is legal,” he said. “When they appointed him, it was at a hearing. That was my concern. They could have come in and told me that it was legal and everything was fine with that. Right now, the question is on my mind and I just want to get clarity from the board.”

The school board’s next regularly scheduled meeting will take place Thursday, Nov. 10 at J.A. Pickard Auditorium  at the School of Discovery at 6 p.m.