Task for Saugus board: Replace super Manville

SAUGUS – The new School Committee has a big task right out of the starting gate – launching a search for a new superintendent.Superintendent Keith Manville was set to retire last June but agreed to steer the School Department through one more year, but he has no plans to extend his stay beyond June 2008.Manville reminded the committee of this Thursday when he said it needed to put together a search plan, and needed to do it sooner rather than later.”They need to decide the process,” Manville said, “If they’ll do the search or put together a committee to do it.”Manville said between deciding the process, posting the position, sifting through candidates and interviews it would likely take six to eight weeks to pick a successful candidate. That is assuming all goes to plan.Ideally, Manville said it would be nice to have a candidate chosen by mid-to-late March so the incoming superintendent could work with Manville before he checks out.Manville said Director of Pupil Personnel Judy Masucci might also be retiring, which puts a little added pressure on the committee.”She’s put her papers in to retire,” Manville said. “The next superintendent would probably want input in hiring her replacement.”School Committee newcomer William Leuci said the search process should be interesting. The fact that Manville remains the lowest-paid superintendent in the area coupled with the town’s dicey financial situation should also make the search interesting.Leuci said he had the chance to participate in a search during his days in the Stoneham school system.”I was involved in interviewing candidates when I was a teacher,” he said, “so I know just a little bit about what this will be like.”The School Committee last undertook a search in 1999 when it picked Manville from a pool of five candidates in what was then referred to as “an emotional 30-minute meeting.”Manville suggested the committee begin to ponder how it might attack the search and meet on the issue, “and given the timetable you have to do it pretty quick.”