Middle School Principal Candidates to Meet Community Thursday Night

Both finalists to become the next principal at will have a chance to meet the community on Thursday night.

The two finalists are Nancy Croy, principal at Lombardi Middle School in Green Bay, Wisc. and Elizabeth Raucci, principal at Manchester-Essex Middle School in Manchester-by-the-Sea.

The public meet and greet is scheduled for Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at Miles River Middle School.

One of the two finalists will replace Matt Fox, to become principal at in Marblehead. Fox had served as principal at both the middle school and , but school leaders have decided to name a full-time principal for each school.

After a search for the high school job resulted in two finalists, Interim Superintendent Peter Gray . He said it was best that a permanent superintendent be selected to help choose the next high school principal. Gray said on Tuesday that more information about the interim high school principal search will be announced by the end of the week.

Community members will have a chance to offer their reflections about the two candidates on Thursday night.

Croy has been principal at Lombardi Middle School since 1991 and before that served as associate principal and athletic director for two years.

Croy has also been assistant principal at Central High School in LaCrosse, Wisc. and principal at Holy Family School in Davenport, Iowa. She began her career as an art and drama teacher for 11 years in Iowa.

She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in art education from Iowa State University and a Master’s of Education in educational administration.

Raucci has been Manchester-Essex Middle School principal since 2007 and also added the duties of serving as principal at Memorial Elementary School during the 2010-2011 school year.

Before coming to Manchester, Raucci was principal at Groton-Dunstable Middle School for five years and assistant principal at Groton-Dunstable Middle School for five years.

In addition to her recent time in Manchester, Raucci has spent a large chunk of her career on the North Shore. She taught physical education, health and social studies for 17 years at in Danvers.

She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in health and physical education from University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master of Education degree in educational administration from Cambridge College.