School Committee Meetings To Bring ‘10-’11 School Year Picture Into Focus

The immediate future of Norfolk’s elementary schools may become a little clearer next week, as the Norfolk School Com­mittee has two content-filled meetings planned.

On Tuesday, April 27, the School Committee plans to in­terview four finalists to become interim superintendent next school year.

The candidate selected would likely take over July 1 and serve through June 30, 2011, giving the School Committee time to name a permanent superintendent. The current superintendent, Don LeClerc, is retiring June 30. The four finalists are Linda Balfour, current principal of H. Olive Day School in Norfolk. which serves kindergarten through second grade; Marilee Cantelmo, a former assistant superin­tendent of the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District and a former curriculum director of Foxborough Regional Charter School; Claire Jackson, a former superintendent of schools in Sharon; and Michael Malone, a former Plainville superinten­dent. The interviews are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Room 124 of Norfolk Town Hall.

The next night, Wednesday, April 28, the School Com­mittee plans to hold a public hearing on the superintendent’s proposed school budget for fiscal year 2011, which covers next school year.

LeClerc, faced with a request from selectmen to submit a non-override budget with a spending reduction from this school year and an override budget with no increase over this school year, has recommended a combination of fees and expense re­ductions that include doubling the bus fee to $180 and elimi­nating some teachers’ positions. The School Committee has not yet voted to recommend a budget.

The schools’ budget is scheduled to go to annual Town Meet­ing on Tuesday, May 18.

The budget public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednes­day, April 28 in Room 124 of Norfolk Town Hall.