The current executive director of instruction for Chelsea schools will become the district’s next superintendent — provided he and Board President Steve Olsen can draw up a contract.

The contract then will need to be approved by the Board of Education.

Andrew Ingall was the only candidate the Chelsea school board interviewed for the position.

Trustees allowed Olsen to negotiate Ingall’s contract on their behalf.

Olsen said negotiations are always an unknown but he “feels confident” the two will reach an agreement. Olsen said he would like the process to be wrapped up sometime next week, adding he and Ingall had their first sit-down Tuesday.

“It was very productive. We went through some issues and are going to meet again shortly,” Olsen said.

Ingall would replace current Superintendent David Killips, who recently announced his retirement, effective June 30, after 10 years at the helm.

The Chelsea Board of Education decided only to post the position internally, after speaking with two private search consultants and Richard Dunham of the Michigan Association of School Boards.

Olsen said all told the board if there is a viable internal candidate, external candidates are less likely to apply.

“If someone is a sitting superintendent in another district, they don’t want their own board to find out they are looking for a job,” Olsen said. “So we did the internal posting. The only application we got was from (Ingall) and we were impressed with how he handled (the interview).”

Staff reporter Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.