HAVERHILL — School Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan has agreed to be the next school chief in the Hamilton-Wenham regional school district, Mayor James Fiorentini and other school officials said yesterday.
"I talked to him this morning, and he told me he's taking the job," School Committee member Paul Magliocchetti said.
Fiorentini said Buchanan's last day in Haverhill will be June 30. The Hamilton-Wenham School Committee voted Thursday night to offer him the job. Buchanan, 69, has been superintendent here since 2006.
Attempts to reach Buchanan for comment were unsuccessful.
The Haverhill School Committee is likely to replace him with an interim superintendent while it searches for a permanent successor.
Fiorentini said he has already identified three candidates for interim superintendent, but declined to reveal their identities.
"I prefer to float their names to the committee privately and see their reactions," the mayor said. "My feeling is we need to hire an interim as soon as possible."
Magliocchetti said the School Committee is scheduled to discuss the process for replacing Buchanan at a special School Committee meeting Monday. He said he did not know whether the matter would be taken up in public or behind closed doors. That decision is to be made by School Committee President Shaun Toohey, Magliocchetti said.
Magliocchetti said Buchanan has provided the committee with a list of candidates he recommends for interim superintendent, but that he has not seen the list.
Prior superintendent searches in Haverhill have been long and controversial.
"This is a district that needs a strong, aggressive leader," the mayor said. "We need to do it quickly, but we also don't want to rush and make the wrong decision on the permanent appointment."
The Hamilton-Wenham job was advertised with a salary of $175,000, but exactly how much Buchanan is to be paid will be determined in contract negotiations. He was paid $130,000 in Haverhill, making him the lowest paid school chief in the area.
Fiorentini said Haverhill is going to have to consider offering money to attract quality candidates.
"Raising salaries is controversial right now, but we're going to have to look at it," the mayor said.
School Committee member Joseph Bevilacqua said Buchanan's departure comes at a difficult time.
"We had no idea he had applied or was even looking somewhere else," Bevilacqua said. "I guess now we know why he wanted to delay so many big decisions like the Bartlett School."
School officials have been weighing their interest in the vacant Bartlett School since Hill View Montessori Charter School left several months ago. The mayor has said he wants to sell the building to help the city's ailing finances, but several School Committee members want to keep it and use if for an education purpose. Buchanan recently asked to delay a decision on the property until January.
"This is a bad time for this when we're in the middle of a tough budget," Bevilacqua said of Buchanan leaving. "But the community shouldn't be concerned. It's time for a change and new ideas."
Hamilton-Wenham's superintendent, Marinel McGrath, is leaving the district at the end of the school year to take over as the superintendent in Andover.
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