MANCHESTER — Last night the Manchester Essex School District whittled its field of 25 applicants to replace Superintendent Marcia O'Neil, who is retiring in June, down to three.
The three candidates to succeed O'Neil are:
Superintendent Michael Cozort from the Shaker Regional School District, a two-town cooperative district of Belmont and Canterbury, N.H.
Thomas Gwin, the principal at Winchester High School in Winchester.
Dr. Marc Kerble, the assistant superintendent of the Winchester school district.
All three finalists will be interviewed on Friday, beginning at 4:30 p.m., School Committee Chairwoman Susan Coviello said. The interviews, all scheduled for the high and middle school's community room, are open to the public.
Manchester and Essex residents will have the opportunity to ask brief questions of the candidates "time permitting," according to a prepared statement from Coviello and the School Committee.
In addition to the open interview process, the committee members will make site visits to each of the candidate's home districts, Coviello said.
The three candidates will also be visiting their prospective new district as well, Coviello said. A reception in each of the district's buildings Essex Elementary School, Manchester Memorial School and Manchester Essex Regional High School — will be held for each of the three candidates when they visit the school district, allowing School Committee members to get to know the finalists in a less formal atmosphere.
Now since the finalists have been announced, a schedule for each visit will be available, Coviello said.
All dates and times of meetings and site visits will be available by visiting the Manchester Essex Regional School District's Web site at www.mersd.org.
The search process for a new superintendent for the regional school district formally began Jan. 4. O'Neil announced last year that she planned to retire at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, which also marks the final year of her three-year contract.
The highest paid superintendent on Cape Ann in 2009, O'Neil was making $169,983. The School Committee is hoping to target a salary of between $130,000 to $155,000 for the new superintendent, although $175,000 was budgeted, around the salary that O'Neil would make if she chose not to retire.
Brendan Connolly can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.
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