Topsham-based Maine School Administrative District 75 is searching for a new superintendent.

The school department started accepting applications in the last week of December. The application period ends Jan. 31.

“I do not know the number of applications received so far,” said school board Chair Holly Kopp. “The board anticipates appointing a new superintendent at the April 14 board meeting.”

This will be the fifth time that the school department has sought to fill the position in the past four years on either an interim or permanent basis.

Interim Superintendent Robert Lucy was hired in February 2021 to fill in while Superintendent Shawn Chabot was on active duty with the Maine Army National Guard to support the guard’s COVID-19 mission. Chabot resigned June 30, 2021, after his deployment with the national guard was extended.

Lucy’s tenure ends June 30, 2022.

Chabot had replaced former Superintendent Brad Smith, who retired in June 2018. The district’s assistant superintendent at the time, Dan Chuhta, was interim superintendent for a few months before leaving in February 2019 to become Maine’s deputy education commissioner.

Last month, the school board formed a hiring committee and an interview committee to initiate the hiring process for a new superintendent.

Holly, however, said the interview process will not be completed before March.

The interview committee will include board members, district and school administrators, teachers, support staff and a community representative. The hiring committee will consist of four board members representing four towns of Maine School Administrative District 75.

MSAD 75 includes Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Topsham and Harpswell.

The interview committee will select candidates for interviews on Feb. 9, then interview those candidates either in-person or through zoom on Feb. 24-25, according to the hiring timeline document.

The board hiring committee and the principals of the district’s seven schools will conduct a second round of interviews on March 7. The full board of directors will conduct the final round of interviews March 16.

This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. Friday, Jan. 7 to correct the date the hiring committee will conduct a second round of candidate interviews.