By Avice Meehan

Four members of the Board of Education (BOE) -, three staff employees of Botelle Elementary School and two representatives of the public – will screen candidates to succeed Mary Beth Iacobelli as Norfolk’s school superintendent.

Four applications have been submitted to date. The deadline for applying for the part-time position is May 9. 

The board members on the search committee are BOE Chair Virginia Coleman-Prisco, Walter Godlewski and Jay Whitaker. Holly Alexson, the early primary teacher; Erin Dubecky, the library media specialist, and Principal Lauren Valentino will represent the staff. Both community representatives know their way around Botelle: Richard Byrne is a long-time volunteer and Ann DeCerbo served as board chair until 2024.

Iacobelli has served as superintendent for 11 years and will retire as of July 1. She told the BOE at its April meeting that she is keeping detailed files for her successor but noted that the timeline is tight. The search committee will be responsible for screening applicants, but final interviews and the vote will be taken by the full board.

Also at the April 8 meeting, the BOE decided to schedule the June meeting aa week early—it will now be June 3 rather than June 10—so that it does not conflict with the promotion ceremony that recognizes those students leaving Botelle for middle school. As it happens, two board members have children in that group.

Valentino noted, in her report, that recent parent-teacher conferences were well attended, and she praised families for their participation. Students were preparing for their annual fitness assessments, even as school personnel were looking ahead to a variety of new state mandates that will be taking effect in the fall.

One light-hearted moment involved the process of getting approval for the March minutes. Vice Chair John DeShazo, the lighting and sound designer for the student performance of “The Jungle Book” was patched into the meeting via FaceTime from the rehearsal underway in the gymnasium.