Members of the Ann Arbor school board are interviewing five search firms to help them in their search for a new superintendent.

The interviews are taking place in the fourth floor meeting room of the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth Ave. The five firms are Michigan Association of School Boards; Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates of Rosemont, Ill.; McPherson and Jacobson LLC of Omaha, Neb.; Ray & Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and David Kinsella & Associates, which is based in Ann Arbor.

As a part of the bid process, each firm submitted an estimated price for the search. Kinsella estimated the cost at 15 percent of the new superintendent’s first-year salary, MASB estimated a search at $22,050; Ray & Associates estimated its services at $21,000-$24,500; HYAA estimated its search at $28,000-$30,000; and McPherson and Jacobson estimated its cost at $18,500.

Interviews will continue until about 10 p.m. tonight, and the board will vote on which firm to select at the Sept. 29 regular board meeting.

The firms will seek a successor to Todd Roberts, who is leaving the district in the coming weeks to move with his family to North Carolina. He will be taking over as chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Math.

Last week, school board trustees selected Robert Allen, current deputy superintendent of operations, as the interim superintendent.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.