LEBANON — Searches are ongoing for new superintendents to lead the Lebanon School District, Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union, Plainfield, Cornish and Grantham schools.

Lebanon began interviewing candidates this week, Karen Woolsey, chairwoman of Lebanon’s superintendent search committee, said in a Tuesday email. Tuesday was the first day of interviews and additional interviews and follow-ups are planned for the coming weeks.

“We have had multiple applications with many qualified candidates,” said Woolsey, the district’s director of student services. “We hope to have candidates by mid-February to recommend for the school board interviews.”

Lebanon Superintendent Joanne Roberts last May announced her intent to leave at the end of this school year. She is currently in her ninth year leading the district, which includes four schools and about 1,600 students.

The 14-person search committee includes student, parent, board and district employee participants. They conducted a community survey and held a forum in November to allow community members to weigh in on the things they felt were the most important issues facing the district, as well as the knowledge and skills the next superintendent should possess.

“I know the superintendent search is of great interest and importance to our communities and am looking forward to the final interviews with the board,” Woolsey said.

Meanwhile, the 10 members of a screening committee in the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union, which includes Windsor-area schools, are sifting through applications received for the post of permanent superintendent there, Jackie Wilson, a consultant contracted by the Vermont School Boards Association, said.

The committee is slated to meet on Tuesday to discuss the applications and decide who to interview as semi-finalists on Feb. 8. The committee is charged with forwarding three candidates to the School Board, Wilson, a former superintendent for the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union, said.

The post is being filled on an interim basis by Christine Bourne, a Cornish resident who was previously principal of Hartland Elementary School. Former Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union Superintendent David Baker left last summer to take a job in Hardwick, Vt., closer to where he lives.

The job posting went up Dec. 27 and Windsor Southeast has received 13 applications so far, mainly from people in New England, but some from elsewhere in the U.S. or abroad.

“It’s a tough market right now,” Wilson said. “I’m happy that we have that many (applicants). The board was good to get out there early.”

The job description on SchoolSpring.com indicates that the position leading the supervisory union, which includes about 1,200 students in Windsor, West Windsor, Hartland and Weathersfield, would begin July 1 and pay between $135,000 and $150,000 annually.

As more information about the search is available, Wilson said it will be made available online through a link on the supervisory union’s website: wsesu.net.

The search is also ongoing for a permanent leader for Plainfield and Cornish schools to start July 1. The position is being filled on an interim basis this school year by part-time Grantham Superintendent Sydney Leggett. Cory LeClair, who previously led Plainfield and Cornish schools, departed last summer.

“We are in the process of conducting preliminary interviews, and hope to have finalists by the end of the first week of February,” Cornish School Board member Justin Ranney said in a Tuesday email.

Grantham also has launched a search for a part-time superintendent to start July 1. Leggett said in an email that she informed the board in October that she would be leaving at the end of this school year.

Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.

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