Assistant Superintendent of Martha’s Vineyard Schools Richie Smith gave an update on the ongoing search for the next Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) principal at the school committee meeting Monday night. The initial pool of 20 candidates is now down to seven.
Interviews were offered to eight candidates, and one declined. Those interviews started on Thursday, Dec. 3, and continued throughout this week.
“We will convene on Dec. 17 to decide our finalists,” Mr. Smith said, at which point, the process will become public, pending approval from the candidates.
The finalists will be invited to the high school to spend the day — one candidate per day — probably during the second week of January. Mr. Smith said he wants to make this week’s interviews public on MVTV, pending the candidate’s approval.
“If we can get all of our finalist interviews on MVTV, then the community might be able to view them as we saw them, and have a little bit of background before the visits happen here at the high school,” he said.
Once the search is down to three or four finalists, Superintendent of Schools Matt D’Andrea will review feedback from students, staff, parents, and the community, and choose two final candidates. At that point, Mr. D’Andrea and Mr. Smith will visit the communities of the finalists.
Mr. D’Andrea will make the final decision based on those site visits. Mr. Smith said they expect to make a final decision in the first week of February.
Interim MVRHS Principal Margaret “Peg” Regan, who retired in 2008, was tapped to fill in following the unexpected departure in August of Gil Traverso, who resigned to take a job in the New Haven, Conn., school district.