PORTLAND – The school board will look nationwide for a new superintendent, but anyone who wants to shake up Maine’s largest school system with a radical new vision need not apply.

The board already has a vision, laid out in its new comprehensive plan, and the system is much better organized than it was when Superintendent Jim Morse took the job three years ago and began a series of reforms, said Sarah Thompson, the school board member who heads the three-person committee that will oversee the hiring process.

“We are looking for someone who can pick up seamlessly where Jim left off,” she said. “We are not looking for a change agent per se.”

School board Chairwoman Kate Synder said she is reluctant to discuss what she wants in a superintendent because the board has yet to discuss the issue with stakeholders, including staff and community members, to develop a profile of the ideal candidate.

Still, she said, compared with a few years ago, when the system was plagued by financial instability, it is now on the right path.

Initiatives that Morse and the board have adopted include a multi-year budgeting process, a reorganized central office administration and a comprehensive plan that sets clear benchmarks for success in the classroom and elsewhere in the district.

“We have a lot of great initiatives,” Snyder said. “Our next superintendent will need to come in and jump right in.”

Morse took the job as head of Portland schools in 2009, in the wake of a financial crisis that prompted the resignation of a superintendent and business manager.

Morse will step down in June, when his three-year contract expires. He has clashed with school board members about budget preparation, curriculum selection, booster clubs and staff members’ accountability.

Morse is paid about $141,000 a year. The school board does not plan to specify a salary range for his successor.

The district has a $93 million annual budget and serves about 7,000 students.

The school board plans to hire a new superintendent before Morse leaves. On Tuesday, the board voted to hire a national head-hunting firm, PROACT Search, to help find candidates.

The firm, based in Wilmette, Ill., will be paid $24,750 plus expenses for its work in Portland.

The school board will likely meet with the firm later this month to discuss what kind of process it wants, such as holding forums to involve the community in the search.

The firm will advertise the position, recruit candidates, check credentials and references, do an initial screening, provide information about candidates to the school board, participate in finalists’ interviews and help with transition planning.

Its fee does not include travel expenses, which are capped at $3,000. Advertising expenses are capped at $4,000. The company’s regional president, Steve Kupler, will lead the search effort in Portland.

PROACT’s searches attract an average of 93 candidates. The company will do the first round of interviews, by videoconference when possible. The school board will interview the final candidates.

Thompson, the head of the search committee, said candidates do not have to be professional educators. She said she would be open to candidates who have worked as chief executives of companies.

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:

tbell@mainetoday.com