Lynn super job interviews set to begin

LYNN – The deadline to apply for retiring Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Kostan’s job has passed, resulting in nine interested candidates, all of whom may personally interview with the School Committee this month.School Committee Secretary Thomas Iarrobino confirmed Tuesday that the department had received nine resumes, and said committee members have agreed to personally interview all nine candidates, rather than send them to a screening committee, if they accept the district’s invitation.Of the nine candidates, four are from within the district, and include two members of Kostan’s current staff.The in-house list of candidates results in little surprise for committee members, as Deputy Superintendents Jaye Warry and Catherine Latham joined Classical High School Principal Warren White and Ford School Principal Claire Crane in showing interest in the job.Human Resources Director Patricia Libby is still attempting to contact the five out-of-district candidates, and the names of those applicants will be released once they agree to interview with the School Committee, which would make their information public.Iarrobino said information on the five outside candidates could be available as early as today.Warry and Latham have served as Kostan’s deputies since 2006, and both have long track records in the Lynn School Department. Before becoming the district’s first two female deputies, Warry served as director of Curriculum and Instruction – the top curriculum post in the district – and Latham was School Support Coordinator.Latham was also a former math curriculum head and the recipient of the prestigious Milken Family Foundation Educator Award.Crane has been in the Lynn Public Schools for nearly 50 years, leading the Ford as principal since 1989. She has been a candidate for the city’s superintendent job in the past and was nearly appointed executive assistant to Superintendent James T. Leonard for a short time in 1996.White, once Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.’s choice to replace Kostan on an interim level, has been principal at Classical since 2004.Like Kostan, he has also served as Classical vice principal and principal at Breed Middle School. Although he does not hold a doctorate like the other three Lynn candidates, White is certified with the state as a superintendent and was a finalist for the position in 2006, before losing out to Warry and Latham.Originally, the committee planned to interview only a handful of candidates, but decided Tuesday to forego the screening committee and schedule personal meetings with all nine applicants.Committee Vice Chair Patricia Capano said it is important that the committee get to the interviews before Christmas, as Kostan is set to call it quits after the first of the year.”I am looking forward to getting my packet (of resumes and information on the candidates) and setting some (interview) dates,” she said. “I want to get this done before Christmas? I don’t want to play around with this.”Iarrobino said the committee has tentatively set the date and times for the interviews, but that is subject to change depending on candidates’ availability.If the schedule remains the same, the committee members will conduct he first three interviews Dec. 11, beginning at 4 p.m., leading up to their December meeting. The following six interviews will take place on Dec. 17 and 18, with three interviews per day beginning at 4 p.m. All interviews will be open to the public and take place at the Administration Building.”Nine is a good number,” said Capano. “That is a good pool to interview. Before we were kind of dangling at four or five, but nine is a better number so we should have some good interviews.”