With four candidates for superintendent remaining, the Westbrook School Committee will take over from the search committee to choose a replacement for Stan Sawyer.
The School Committee will start interviewing the remaining candidates Saturday, after being prepped by the search committee at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, after American Journal deadline.
According to Colleen Hilton, who led the search committee, the School Committee will decide how to continue with the process of selecting a superintendent, like whether to do site visits to the candidates’ current schools.
That, Hilton said, will determine how long the rest of the selection process will take, but she hopes to have the final choice made by the end of February or beginning of March, so the new superintendent can be involved in the budget process.
The search committee formed last May and includes School Committee members, city councilors, school staff and a student. It held community forums to find out what Westbrook residents were looking for in a superintendent. Hilton said there were 15 qualified candidates, and the hardest part was eliminating some “really good applicants,” which she said was a positive challenge to have.
“It’s going to be tough to narrow them down,” said City Councilor Mike Foley, who participated in the second round interviews.
Foley said three of the candidates are from Maine and the other is from out of state, but declined to give their names because the committee agreed to keep them confidential, out of respect for the candidates who are all currently employed.
Hilton said the committee was looking for someone with good communication and leadership skills, as well as expertise in school financing and budgeting.
Sawyer, who is in his 10th year as superintendent in Westbrook, officially retired in June 2007, but was rehired immediately for the 2007-2008 school year. Facing the school consolidation law and the construction of the new middle school, the School Committee last February asked Sawyer to stay on for another year.
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