Celli: New Swampscott High principal by May 2

SWAMPSCOTT – With a search committee already on the job, Superintendent Lynne Celli said Swampscott High School will have a new principal by May 2.Celli reported at a school committee meeting Wednesday that a “well-rounded” committee of 19 people, including two students, had their first meeting scheduled for Thursday to begin to sort through the 25 to 30 candidates for the position. For now, the candidates? names will remain confidential, said Celli, since some have not told their current employers that they are looking for jobs outside their district, but she said the group represented a “wide range.”In fact, the entire process will be confidential until the final stages. “The way this works is it allows people to speak freely knowing their words won?t be at Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks the next day,” said Celli.Though Celli said she is qualified under state law to hire a principal on her own, she explained to school committee members that in her experience, a search committee with facilitated discussion and collaborative feedback was the way to get the best person for the job. “The process is really objectified this way,” she said.For the next few weeks, the committee will be at work ranking each candidate to find the top three who will move on to meet students, parents and community members during a visit to the high school. From there, anyone who wishes may fill out a color-coded evaluation form for each candidate, and the committee will use that feedback in their final decision.Celli said often she and her search committees agree on the best candidate. “The cream really rises to the top,” she said.Committee members Ted Delano and Rick Kraft also reported that their interim superintendent search has interviewed two candidates and planned to interview some more at their next meetingKait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].