Superintendent Finalists to be Named Next Week

A handful of finalists in the search for the next superintendent will be announced next week.

The Superintendent Search Committee said in a prepared statement on Wednesday that “it anticipates announcing finalists, after necessary communications with all candidates, by the beginning of next week.”

The committee finished its interviews with 11 semi-finalists after meeting in executive session on Tuesday night. The interviews were conducted during a series of meetings during the past two weeks. Those finalists were selected from a pool of 33 applicants that submitted resumes in advance of the March 16 deadline. The search committee has not determined how many finalists it will name next week.

“The search committee agreed the pool of candidates was superior with qualifications and depths of knowledge about the District that empowered extensive conversations,” the search committee said in its prepared statement updating the search process.

The after the search and decided that instead of naming him to the post permanently the committee .

Gray has been the interim superintendent since May, and left the position after less than a year on the job.

The School Committee will make the final decision, which is scheduled to happen in early May. Before that, a series of community forums in scheduled to review feedback on the candidates. Hiring a superintendent in one of the top responsibilities for the School Committee, in addition to approving the budget.

The new superintendent is planned to be on board this summer, before the school year starts in September.

The search committee is getting guidance from New England School Development Council representative Tony Bent and Bent will meet with the School Committee on Thursday night to discuss the next steps in the process at .

The search committee consists of Helen Allard, Celeste Bowler, Bill Bowler, Kym Donnellan, Catherine Harrison, Roger Kuebel, Janet Lee, Joseph Maher, Dacia Rubel, Connor Schmidt, Kim Smith, Thomas Starr and Jeff Stinson.