NORTHFIELD — With one principal already appointed, the Pioneer Valley Regional School District is taking on two principal searches in Northfield and seeking candidates for an expanded administrator role.

After five months as interim, Cynthia Schultz was appointed by Superintendent Patricia Kinsella as permanent Bernardston Elementary School principal at the beginning of the month, leaving the district with the same positions at Northfield Elementary School and Pioneer Valley Regional School to be filled. The district is also trying to fill a director of teaching and learning position — pending budget approval of the role — which is an expansion of the curriculum coordinator role and would be tasked with leading all student learning, staff development and staff evaluations.

Kinsella said search committees are coming together this week and review of applications and initial interviews will begin in March. In her time as superintendent, including when the School Committee was seeking a permanent superintendent last year, Kinsella said the district has gotten a handle on how to conduct an efficient, effective search process.

“We know how to do searches well,” Kinsella said, adding the support of the community, staff and School Committee will create a strong search committee. “I already had a few people reach out and express interest for the position. We’re looking forward to reviewing applications.”

Kinsella said the jobs were posted over the weekend and job descriptions, along with a desired candidate profile, can be found in the district newsletter at bit.ly/3K75U07.

For Northfield Elementary, Kinsella said she is seeking a principal who recognizes “the strong positive culture among staff and students” and someone who “builds off that.” At Pioneer, she said the ideal principal is someone who is “eager to learn about this community and wants to help this middle-senior high school envision its identity moving forward.”

Entering the school year, Pioneer was running with interim principals at each of its three schools. To fill those roles, longtime school administrator Jim Trill was hired to lead the way at Northfield Elementary, Schultz threw her hat in the ring late in the summer at Bernardston Elementary and Turners Falls High School teacher John Carter was tapped to be Pioneer principal. However, Carter resigned from the role in December, leading Dean of Students Cathy Hawkins-Harrison to be named acting principal. Hawkins-Harrison will return to her previous role when a principal is hired.

Kinsella said Trill, who came out of retirement for a year while the district steadied itself, and Schultz, who has decades of teaching experience, “have been amazing principals” and she is grateful for their service.

“It’s a pure gift that Jim was willing to serve the district this year,” Kinsella said. “I’m really proud of (Schultz) for stepping in at the end of the summer. … She deserved the appointment for the permanent position.”

The director of teaching and learning position, which will be up for approval at Wednesday’s School Committee meeting, will mean taking the 10-month curriculum coordinator and grant manager position and making it a “full-year senior administrator.”

Using a restaurant analogy, Kinsella said Director of Finance and Operations Jordan Burns is like “the back of the house,” while the director of teaching and learning will be in charge of the everyday learning experience.

“This person is the front of the house,” Kinsella said, adding this role will help direct “all the things that have to do with having great classrooms and great learning every day.”

The search for employees to fill all three administrative positions is expected to end before mid-April’s school vacation week, according to a timeline compiled by Kinsella.

“Anybody who is interested, give me a call, send me an email,” Kinsella said. “We are developing such a wonderful administrative team and looking for our next great people.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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