The Northport Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Friday at 7:30 a.m., and may decide to hire two new teachers for the 2007-08 school year.

The board will meet in the school library. Superintendent Tyrus Wessell said the board will be considering his recommendations for two full-time positions: a second and third grade teacher, and a Spanish teacher.

Mary Ann Krolczyk retired from her elementary school position after working at Northport for 14 years. Miluska Milroy departed at the end of the 2006-07 school year to take a new Spanish teaching position with a downstate school.

Wessell did not identify the two candidates he’s recommending for the positions, saying he preferred to wait for the special meeting. He said the process for hiring a new teacher is intensive and includes contacting universities around the state and asking for their best candidates.

“Superintendents are always looking for good teachers, so we talk with each other and keep names in mind of possible candidates,” he said.

For the elementary school position, Wessell began with a batch of 40 to 50 applications. After reviewing resumes, he put them into three groups: no interest; ones to keep in mind for the future; and very interested.

“I then call the people in the ‘very interested’ group and do a phone interview. From there I bring them in for a face-to-face meeting, then after that we hold a formal interview with a staff committee,” he said.
The staff committee for the current round of interviews includes Maggie Sprattmoran from the Leelanau Children’s Center, as well as teachers from the elementary and secondary schools.

Based on the committee interview, a recommendation is made and presented to the board for final approval.

Wessell said hiring two teachers will be the only business conducted Friday morning. The meeting was scheduled for the morning to avoid conflict with the ongoing production of The Sound of Music. Board member Alan Woods plays the key role of Captain von Trapp, and many school personnel are also involved in the musical.