MATTAPOISETT — The screening committee tasked with interviewing candidates for the position of Superintendent of the Old Rochester Regional School District presented three finalists to the school committee on Wednesday, Jan. 29. The three final candidates are Michael Nelson, assistant superintendent of teaching, learning, and student services in the Old Rochester Regional School District, Gary Reese, the superintendent of schools in Westport, and Michelle Roy, assistant superintendent of Dartmouth Public Schools. 

The current Superintendent, Doug White, is set to retire at the end of this school year.  White has served in the Old Rochester Regional School District since 2010.

Nelson has served in his current position since October 2019, and was previously the Director of Student Services for the district. He has a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Bridgewater State University. 

Reese has been working in his current position since July 2018, and was previously the Superintendent of Amesbury Public Schools. He has a Doctorate in Education from Boston College. 

Roy has served in her current position since 2014, and was previously the K-12 Director of Data and Accountability for the Attleboro Public Schools. She has a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in School Administration/Superintendency from Bridgewater State University. 

After Center School Principal Rose Bowman presented the names of the three finalists to the School committee, James Hardy, of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the district’s advisor, discussed the final steps in the superintendent search process. 

In the week of Feb. 3, school committee members will visit the districts of the three finalists. In the following week, the finalists will have a chance to visit each of the schools in the Old Rochester Regional district.

On Feb. 29, the school committee will hold public interviews with each of the three finalists. Hardy said that he does not like to put time limits on these types of interviews, but that each one will likely take 1.5 to two hours. 

Bowman declined to comment on the screening process, or the qualifications of the finalists, as she said the decision-making process is now solely up to the school committee. 

She did say that the screening committee was well represented, and that it included teachers, parents, school committee members, administrators, and town officials.