One of the finalists for Clayton County's temporary school superintendent post is asking for a $275,000 salary and $2 million for his consultant team, officials said Wednesday.

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John W. Thompson also is asking for 24-hour security along with a car and a driver, said Dick Greene of the search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.

Thompson and Santiago V. Wood are the two finalists for Clayton's corrective superintendent, who will be tasked with salvaging the district's accreditation.

The National Accreditation Commission voted Saturday to revoke Clayton's accreditation in September unless nine conditions are met.

That day, the school board interviewed Thompson and Wood. The board plans to offer a contract to one of them within the next two weeks. The contract will be for only one or two years, enough time to turn the district around, Greene said.

In his interview, Thompson asked for up to $2 million to spend on a hand-picked consultant team and additional money for housing assistance and travel, according to an official who attended the interviews.

"He wants a driver available for a Lincoln Town car 24-hours a day, his own security team from his home town in North Carolina and large expense accounts," added John Trotter, chairman of the Metro Association of Classroom Educators, who did not attend the interviews but spoke with at least one school board member who was at the sessions.

"I think those benefits are absolutely ludicrous, but desperate school boards like Clayton County will offer up all the taxpayers' money to try and find a savior," Trotter said.

Thompson did not return three phone messages Wednesday.

Wood told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday he is asking for $185,000 a year, along with a "small monthly expense allowance," a one-time $2,200 housing fee and moving expenses.

He also wants a 18- to 24-month contract. "One year is not going to cut it," Wood said.

Wood said his salary request is based on information from the Council of Great City Schools, which represents the nation's 66 largest school districts.

According to the council, superintendents in the nation's largest districts made $208,000 in 2006. Clayton, with 52,800 students, is not large enough to be a member of the council.

Thompson's and Wood's requests are not exorbitant, said Greene, who has led dozens of superintendent searches across the nation.

"These guys are coming into a district that is not well-organized, filled with confrontation, losing accreditation, [with] personnel issues and board issues," Greene said. "Right now, a package of $325,000 including salary and benefits is not unusual at all."

School board Chairwoman Ericka Davis said Wednesday the board has made no decision on a salary range. She said the board sees "it as a package and it will be negotiated between attorneys when the person is selected."

Wood and Thompson have been credited with turning around struggling school districts — and leaving abruptly in the wake of controversy.

Thompson, 63, served as superintendent in Tulsa for six years and then spent five years leading the Pittsburgh schools. The Pittsburgh school board declined to renew his contract in 2005 after some board members questioned his spending and abrupt personality.

He now lives in Greensboro, N.C., and is an independent educational consultant.

Wood, 59, has worked with two accreditation agencies. He also served as superintendent in West Contra, Alum Rock and Fresno, all in California. He resigned from Fresno in 2004 after an audit revealed school officials falsified construction documents.

A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident who is an educational consultant and real estate broker, Wood dismissed the Fresno matter and insisted he never did anything wrong, but he declined to elaborate. He said that most superintendents in large systems get tangled in politics.

He sees the same thing in Clayton.

"The district has got caught up in a political hail storm from SACS and it has tainted the district in a negative way," Wood said. "That district is in better shape than 60 to 70 percent of your large urban districts. I know we can meet the nine mandates to hold on to accreditation."

In addition to the corrective superintendent, Clayton must pay interim superintendent Gloria Duncan the remainder of her $176,600 annual salary. Duncan, who will be appointed to a new, unspecified position, has applied for the permanent superintendent position, which makes her ineligible for the temporary job, school officials said.

Duncan was appointed interim superintendent in July after Barbara Pulliam abruptly resigned. The district is also paying Pulliam a $145,000 severance package, which is scheduled to finish at the end of April.