Prospective principals lining up in Peabody

PEABODY – The top three finalists eager to become the next principal of the Burke School will participate in public interviews on Wednesday.Superintendent Milton Burnett will interview South School Assistant Principal Judith McNiff and Burke School Assistant Principal Janet Veil, along with Mary Murphy, a Marlborough elementary school principal. Nearly 18 hopefuls applied.The interviews kick off at 9:30 a.m. in the Burke School cafeteria and last about an hour each. Teachers, staff, parents, and members of the community are more than welcome to attend and observe the process.The position became available when former Principal Brian Fay announced his resignation in May to further his career in his hometown of Lynn. He was only in Peabody for four years.”Leaving the Burke is actually bittersweet for me. I have four years teaching there and I have great faculty and great staff, not to mention wonderful families and students at that school,” he said in an earlier interview with The Item. “In my professional life I left, but my personal life has always been in Lynn.”