The next Wiscasset Middle School principal will be a temp. With decisions still to come about consolidating  the town’s schools, the new school department can’t promise candidates what lies ahead for the job, School Committee Chairman Steve Smith said.

So the hire will be an interim one, Smith said on July 9.

It’s the second, major position that will be temporary for year one of the department. The school committee recently named Lyford Beverage as interim superintendent beginning July 1, the first day Wiscasset was no longer part of Regional School Unit 12. Voters agreed in November 2013 to break away from the district.

In June, Smith said he wanted the committee to have a proposed consolidation plan ready to show residents in October. In the telephone interview July 9, Smith said the move for an interim principal at the middle school does not mean the school is headed for closure, or that consolidation will mean one less school administrator in the system.

“It’s not that we’re saying we’re going to close the middle school. It’s only because it’s difficult to fill the position,” he said. “There have been good candidates, but there is uncertainty because of consolidation.”

The middle school slot opened up due to the retirement of longtime principal Linda Bleile.