The search for North’s next principal nears its conclusion as the search committee looks to nominate a candidate to the Board of Education by the February 8^th Board Meeting.

The committee has narrowed its scope down to three candidates, including one internal administrator from North, another administrator from a middle school in the district, as well as one from out of district.

“We had our first round yesterday, we have our second round scheduled right now for the 20^th,” said District Director of Administration and Personnel Craig Brown, who is part of the search committee for the next principal. “Dr. Abrel will ultimately recommend a candidate and the board of education will either accept that recommendation or they will reject it, but ultimately will be up to the board of education to make that decision.”

The committee originally sought to recommend a candidate for the January 25^th Board Meeting. The process, however, has stalled as the search has not been narrowed down since the second set of interviews.

“The administration did not make a recommendation to the Board.  So, the Board did not vote against anyone,” said Brown. “At this time, I would prefer not to mention any names until the Board has officially acted. A recommendation will be going to the February 8th meeting.”

The committee will not bring any new candidates in this late in the process. The application for the decision was taken down in early January.

“If I’m going to be honest with you, we haven’t had anyone new apply for the job the last two to three weeks it was posted,” said Brown.

Brown emphasized that in the search, the committee sought out experience as well as instructional skill in their evaluations.

“We get a lot of assistant principals applying who are looking to become principals, we get middle school principals who want to move to high school, and we get high school principals from smaller districts looking to become principals from bigger schools,” said Brown. “Those are the ones we take seriously. Obviously we want someone who is going to be an instructional leader, make sure the kids are getting a hand to push them the best they can academically. We are looking for someone who is very visible. They need to be able to be at events and concerts and whatever.”

Current Principal Raymond Epperson believed that communication would be key for the new candidate to succeed.

“[North] is bigger than any one person so the new principal needs to get input from students, staff, parents and other administrators when making decisions,” said Epperson. “I hope the new principal continues the student advisory committee as it is a great way to get input from students in the building.”

Epperson will not be involved in the search process, as the outgoing principal typically has little input in the matter.

After the new candidate is announced, they will begin work on July 1 due to how the contracts work in the district. The new principal will be announced to students soon after the board approves of the choice.