POLAND — Regional School Unit 16 directors will begin searching for a new superintendent by asking staff and Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls residents what they want in a new leader. 

The survey will be emailed to staff and parents, and will be available on the school system’s website. Hard copies will be available at town offices “and places where people might go and see it if they don’t have a computer,” outgoing Superintendent Tina Meserve said.

The surveys could be distributed as soon as next week.

The RSU 16 board officially accepted Meserve’s resignation Monday. She has been hired as superintendent for the Farmington area’s RSU 9 and begins there July 1.

She has served as superintendent for RSU 16 since 2013. 

Meserve said Wednesday that the school board will work with the Maine School Management Association on advertising the position, collecting applications and going through the hiring process. The board will also create a hiring committee to sift through the applicants and recommend final candidates to the full board. 

That committee will meet weekly, starting next week.

She said the board hopes to have someone in place by July 1. 

“But they won’t rush the process. If it takes longer, it takes longer and they will have to think about an interim or how do they fill the gap for the month or so that they’re waiting,” she said.

ltice@sunjournal.com

RSU 16 outgoing Superintendent Tina Meserve. (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald file photo)