Saugus principal search extended

SAUGUS – The search to fill Belmonte Middle School Principal Charles Naso’s shoes when he retires this summer just got a little longer.Superintendent Richard Langlois told the School Committee Thursday that he is extending the search.A search committee has already sifted through profiles and narrowed its focus to two finalists but Langlois said he’d like to take one more look.”We’ll maintain the candidate pool but will extend the application period,” he said. “I just want to make sure we have the right fit for our educational and staff needs.”Langlois said the current candidates have both been told about the extension and retain the right to move on or stay in the pool.”It’s nothing against the two candidates, they’re both wonderful,” he said. “And this is not to say that we won’t go back to one of them, but I just wanted to see what else was out there.”The search is not unlike the one Langlois participated just last year. When the hunt kicked off to fill former Superintendent Keith Manville’s seat there was not a mad rush of applications.The search initially closed in March but, disappointed with only five applications, it was reopened in April, largely for the same reasons that Langlois cited, to see who else is out there and to be sure the fit is right.Also not unlike Langlois, who walked into a department that had taken a $1.3 million budget hit, whoever sits in Naso’s seat will be taking the reins of a struggling school.The middle school has been hit hard over the last few years losing teachers and programming at an alarming rate. The school is also on the warning list for failing to make adequate yearly progress two years in a row under MCAS.Langlois said he is only extending the search for another two weeks and hopes to have a new principal in place soon.”We’ll just see what happens,” he said.