KP Names Three Finalists For Superintendent

The King Philip School Committee plans to interview three finalists to become the new su­perintendent of the regional grades-7-through-12 school district that serves Norfolk, Wrentham, and Plainville. Maureen Howard, chairman of the King Philip School Committee, announced the names of the finalists late this week.

They are:

— Elizabeth Zielinski, assistant superinten­dent of Quaboag Regional School District, which serves the towns of Warren and West Brookfield in western Worcester County.

Zielinski has served as a teacher, a vice prin­cipal, and a principal in school districts in central and western Massachusetts.

She has a bachelor’s degree in education from The College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, a master’s degree in educational curriculum and instruction from Leslie College in Cambridge, and a doctorate in educational administration from Boston College.

(The background information comes from the Times & Courier of Clinton in central Massachu­setts, where Zielinski was a finalist for superinten­dent in 2009.) — Katherine Scheidler, director of curriculum and grants since September 2009 for Monson Public Schools in Hampden County, on the Con­necticut border. Scheidler has also worked as an English teacher in Rhode Island and a curriculum director for the Silver Lake Regional District, which serves Hali­fax, Kingston, and Plympton, according to mass­live. com, the online version of The Republican of Springfield, which ran a story about her when she was hired in Monson last summer. — Edward W. Costa II, former superintendent of schools in East Longmeadow, a town in Hamp­den County south of Springfield that also borders on Connecticut. Costa grew up in Brockton, has a bachelor’s degree in music education, a master’s degree in school administration, and a doctorate in educa­tion administration from the University of Okla­homa, according to his web site. He has served as a school administrator in Oklahoma and in Massachusetts.

Costa left East Longmeadow in late 2009 un­der fire during a police investigation over a claim by a parent that he falsified school committee minutes in connection with an incident involving a child who was asked to walk home from school rather than ride a school bus, according to an Oc­tober 2009 story in masslive.com, the online ver­sion of The Republican, the daily newspaper of Springfield.

Costa could not immediately be reached for comment shortly before The Norfolk Boomerang’s deadline late this week. King Philip officials are planning to make site visits next week to the places where the can­didates work or have worked recently. The King Philip School Committee plans to interview the candidates in public session after the site visits, and hopes to name a new superintendent in mid-April. The new superintendent would replace Richard Robbat, the current interim superintendent, who is finishing his seventh year leading King Philip schools after formally retiring last June.