STANDISH – By early next week, the School Administrative District 6 community should know the identity of the next principal of Bonny Eagle High School.

According to Superintendent Frank Sherburne, school officials have signed a confidentiality agreement barring them from discussing the matter until the school board makes a decision, which is expected Tuesday, July 16.

While not able to name names, Sherburne was able to discuss the process, which began in late March when the SAD 6 board of directors voted unanimously to not renew the contract of the previous principal, Beth Schultz. After Schultz appealed the decision, Schultz and the board agreed that she would be allowed to resign, which appears on her permanent record. After the flap, which saw much support of Schultz by high-school staff, the district advertised the principal’s position and Sherburne said the search yielded 18 applicants.

“As a committee and as a district, when we do screening and interviews, we all sign a confidentiality statement and until the board approves a candidate, we are not allowed to release that information,” Sherburne said.

Sherburne – who played an influential role in the board’s non-renewal of Schultz’s contract saying she lacked leadership skills – said he wasn’t involved in “any aspect of screening, and I didn’t even know who applied” for the principal’s position.

Sherburne said the screening committee, which was responsible for working through the 18 applications, included school board members, teachers and administrators at the high school. They whittled the selection to four candidates. A 13-member interview committee, with school board members Deb Black, Carol Gifford and Hilda Lynch, as well as teachers, administrators and a non-voting high school student who sits on the school board, chose the finalist.

“At the end of the day, there was a candidate selected to move forward to the board,” Sherburne said. “The committee was unanimously in agreement to move the candidate forward.”

Sherburne said the new principal will work through a two-year probationary period under one-year contracts. After two years, the principal would then receive a three-year contract if the board approves.

The non-negotiable salary in the first year of the probationary period is $96,578. The second year is $99,606, Sherburne said.

If the school board approves the candidate, who Sherburne described as “a current administrator,” he is hoping the candidate would begin work in “mid-August. I’ve got to work with their current administration in order to do a transition I’m sure,” Sherburne said.

Schultz, contacted at her home in Westbrook, said she wishes the new principal well.

“I wish the candidate…the best. Bonny Eagle has a great staff and a wonderful student body. So I wish him the best,” she said.

Schultz said she is “doing well” and “exploring some exciting possibilities and interesting possibilities in education in Maine.”