Search still on for new CPS, NES principals
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT WRITER
The school system is still looking for two permanent principals for the elementary and Cyrus Peirce schools, but school officials are willing to wait until the right people are found.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Genthner: "We don't want to pass over the best individual just because of the start date ... We want the best candidate regardless of when he or she can start. We need to be patient and get the right person."

While assistant schools superintendent Dr. Carlos Colley is set to remain at the elementary school until a new principal is hired, interim Cyrus Peirce School principal Barbara White is scheduled to leave on January 1. The retired Cyrus Peirce School history teacher told the schools she would be stepping down in January when she accepted the position in late August.

School Committee chairman Sue Genthner said the schools most likely will hire another interim principal at Cyrus Peirce for the second half of the year. "Obviously we want to hire the best candidate for the [full-time] position," she said. "We don't want to pass over the best individual just because of the start date."

The schools have hired the search firm Focus Management of Beverly, Mass. and set up committees to help select the new principals, but Genthner said the schools' primary goal at the moment is finding a qualified person to replace White.

"At the same time that we're working with the search firm to cast a broad net for a new principal, we're looking at various options to hire an interim principal if we do not find a principal by Jan. 1, or if we do find a principal but they cannot start until July," she said. "We want the best candidate regardless of when he or she can start. We need to be patient and get the right person."

Genthner said it would be ideal to find a qualified on-island candidate like White to replace her at CPS. "We're looking at a variety of options to fill the position," she said.

One of those options may be working with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents to perhaps select an interim principal from a pool of retired educators.

White stepped in to fill the void created when former CPS principal Lynne Kalman retired last July. Colley was named interim elementary school principal after Paul Koulouris resigned last July to accept a college teaching position in Vermont.

Genthner said the schools were fortunate to have White's leadership this fall. "The school committee is grateful that a respected educator like Barbara White stepped up to the plate on behalf of our students and we thank her for the guidance she has given the middle

school this year." I