Norton School Committee Interviewing Two Superintendent Finalists Thursday

The Norton School Committee will be interviewing the two finalists for the schools superintendent position this Thursday night.

School committee chair Andrew Mackie said that he is hopeful that a positive conclusion will be reached during the interviews and Norton will once again have a superintendent.  The candidates, Joseph Baeta and Bonnie Gifford, have been in the running since November.

Mackie said that though the committee is in its final stages for the search, even if a candidate is picked, Norton might still not have a permanent superintendent.

“We had a previous search that was not successful and ended up getting an interim superintendent,” he said.

Mackie added that contract negotiations were the deciding factor in the failure of the last search.

“[The search] is always contingent on successful contract negotiations,” he said.

Mackie added that the two interviewees will be meeting with school officials and teachers on Thursday to get a feel for the Norton school system.

“Both of those finalists will be visiting in the district and trying to get a sense of if the district is what they’re after,” he said.

Though Mackie said it is not a done deal, he is hopefully that the interviews will go well.

“We have two excellent candidates now we’re really happy with the quality of people we interview,” he said.  “They are both excellent and it will be a very difficult decision.”