If any open-minded, past teachers with management experience would go for the challenge of heading up a brand new school department, Wiscasset would like to hear from them.

Those were some of the qualities that residents and school staffers said they want in the department's permanent hire for a superintendent. About a dozen people turned out for a February 11 meeting that the Wiscasset School Committee called to get public input; the panel's superintendent search committee is preparing to draft an ad for the job.

The school committee is aiming to have the superintendent in place when the department opens July 1. Candidate interviews should start in March, the search committee's chairman said.

“We're under a bit of a time pressure,” said Search Committee Chairman Steve Smith, who vice-chairs the full school committee.

Smith had hoped for a bigger turnout Tuesday in the Wiscasset High School library. The search committee would welcome additional comment and would also like to hear from anyone interested in joining the search committee, Smith said. He can be reached at stesmith@svrsu.org.

Among Tuesday’s comments, resident Chet Grover said the superintendent will need to keep taxpayers and students in mind. The person will be spending people’s money, he said. “It’s a huge balancing act.”

A teaching background would help the person understand the classroom environment, said Molly Carlson, a resident and an art teacher at Wiscasset Middle School.

“I think you need that experience in order to lead,” Carlson said.

The superintendent should be guided by the question of what’s best for students, Wiscasset Middle School Principal Linda Bleile said. She also offered committee members advice on checking with candidates’ former employers: Ask them if they would have the person back if they could. A quick yes is a good sign. “If there’s a hesitation, think about that,” she said.

Wiscasset High School Principal Deb Taylor said she would like the person to have a vision for moving Wiscasset’s school system forward and revitalizing it.

The school committee planned Tuesday's meeting after hearing February 6 from representatives of the Maine School Management Association. Whether or not to involve the community is one of many decisions the committee would have to make as it embarks on its search for a permanent hire, the representatives said.

The association could help with the search for $150 an hour, said associate executive director Elaine Tomaszewski. The role could be heavy or light, she said.

Tomaszewski and the association's deputy executive director Bob Hasson offered some tips on the search process. The pools have shrunk in recent years, so a school department needs to show candidates why they should want the job, Hasson said.

“It's very, very important to understand that people are going to have a lot of questions about why it is (they) should come here,” Hasson said.

“It's a lovely community here, and you know why somebody should want to come here,” Tomaszewski added.

The two also stressed the importance of finding a superintendent who is a good match for students and the department. Superintendents these days tend to stay only about three years, but Wiscasset's could be an exception if there's a good fit, they said.

People don't leave a job; people leave people, Tomaszewski said.

The committee has not decided if it will hire the association for any part of the search.

Interim superintendent, and former Wiscasset superintendent, Wayne Dorr has said it's too early to know if he wants to be considered for the permanent job.

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