NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee will vote on appointing Susan Wright, who spent 10 years as the city’s finance director, as acting superintendent of schools on Thursday night and, at the same special meeting, hire an interim superintendent who could serve for up to a year.
School Committee vice chair Gwen Agna said Wright’s appointment could last as little as a few days and that, if approved, she will keep the district afloat until the interim superintendent starts work.
On Tuesday, the ad hoc subcommittee tasked with recommending an interim superintendent interviewed five candidates and named three finalists, who will all sit for public interviews during Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. virtual meeting of the full School Committee.
The finalists are Jannell Pearson-Campbell, a former assistant superintendent in the Old Rochester Regional School District in Plymouth County; Marlene DiLeo, superintendent in Ware; and Howard “Jake” Eberwein III, a former superintendent in Pittsfield and Lee.
Former Northampton Superintendent John Provost was hired to lead the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District starting July 1. He had also applied for the top jobs in Leicester and Athol-Royalston.
DiLeo also applied for the superintendent jobs in the same districts as Provost and was named a finalist in each.
Wright first came to Northampton as business manager of the school district in 2004, and in 2011, former mayor Clare Higgins appointed her finance director. She retired from public service last January, but returned as the district’s interim business manager when Nick Bernier left June 30 to take a job in Easthampton. During her brief tenure as acting superintendent, Agna said, Wright will serve in both roles.
The School Committee is also looking for a permanent business manager.
Agna said the committee received 11 applications for the interim job, “which we were pleased to see. There were some very highly qualified people.” The successful candidate would serve for up to a year while a search is underway for a permanent superintendent.
That search will be “much, much bigger” than a city job posting, and “we will engage an agency of some sort” to help gather and screen candidates, Agna said. The committee plans to have a deeper discussion about which agency to hire during their July 14 regular meeting.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.