BEVERLY — The School Committee named five finalists yesterday for superintendent and on Friday will choose one to lead the Beverly Public School District when James Hayes retires in June.
The finalists are:
Marie Doyle, superintendent of Carlisle Public Schools
Marie Galinski, assistant superintendent of Beverly Public Schools
Marc Kerble, assistant superintendent of Winchester Public Schools
John O'Connor, superintendent of the Dover School District in New Hampshire
Wayne Woolridge, co-superintendent of School Administrative Unit 29 in Keene, N.H., a cohort of seven districts.
The School Committee sped up the search process by two weeks and released the names yesterday because many of the candidates are being sought for other positions.
"We expedited it because there are a lot of openings around the commonwealth, and we had some fabulous candidates that we didn't want to lose to another district," said Maria Decker, vice president of the School Committee and a member of the search committee.
Many of them have interviewed in other districts, and in some cases been named finalists for the position.
"There's an urgency to it," Decker said.
The candidates have a wide range of experience that spans elementary to high school, from special education to physical education.
"They have a wealth of experience, across all levels," Decker said.
Many have local ties, including Galinski, who worked as a K-12 principal of a learning lab school in Worcester before taking her current job in Beverly, and Kerble, who began his career as a special education teacher in Peabody before serving as the executive director of curriculum and Title 1 coordinator in Haverhill Public Schools.
Doyle taught middle school in Belmont, was a curriculum specialist in Foxborough and was a middle school principal in Newton. O'Connor, an elementary, middle and high school principal in New Hampshire, also served as the principal and sixth-grade teacher of a school in Saudi Arabia.
And Woolridge, who sits on seven school boards in New Hampshire, was a former assistant superintendent, elementary and high school principal, and English teacher.
Beverly received 29 applications.
"That's considered a good response," said Ken DeBenedictis, a consultant from New England School Development Council hired to help in the process. "Especially because there are a huge number of superintendent positions open in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire."
The 15-member search committee interviewed 10 candidates last week and narrowed the field to the final five. In making a decision, it relied heavily on six community focus groups where the public weighed in on what it wanted to see in the next leader of Beverly Public Schools, Decker said.
Qualities that emerged were someone who will be visible around town, "skilled in budget development," who could make tough decisions and come up with "creative ways to fund programs and activities."
"It was pretty universal, the people that rose to the top," Decker said. "These people really fit the criteria."
But you can be the judge. They'll be visiting the schools, talking with teachers, students, staff and parents during the day, before open interviews with the School Committee tonight and Thursday night at the Memorial Building.
"We hope a lot of people stop by," Decker said.
The new superintendent will oversee seven schools, 610 employees and a budget of $50 million, including grants, according to a flier the committee printed to solicit candidates. The pamphlet does not advertise a salary range. Hayes earned $154,000 last year.
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salem news.com.
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