FARMINGTON — Tina Meserve, the incoming superintendent in Regional School Unit 9, was chosen from among four candidates who met the search committee’s criteria. 

There were 11 inquiries about the position, according to Steven Bailey, executive director of Maine School Management Association. The board hired the association to help with the superintendent search.

There were four completed application packets that met the committee’s criteria, Bailey said Monday. He declined to say how many were interviewed or to identify the other candidates.

Bailey had previously told the search committee during interview training that members could not tell anyone how many candidates there were for the position.

Meserve, who is leaving the superintendency of RSU 16 in Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot, was offered a two-year contract by RSU 9, according to Tami Labul, chairwoman of the board’s Administrative Evaluation Committee.

The RSU 9 school board Tuesday unanimously approved Meserve to lead the district as of July 1 at a stating annual salary of $125,000.

Current Superintendent Tom Ward of Temple will retire June 30 after five years at the helm.

Ward makes $122,000, the annual salary he has received since being hired in 2013. However, if he had stayed with the district, he planned to ask for a raise in the 2018-19 budget, Ward said Tuesday.

Ward has declined a raise each year since he took the position.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

Tina Meserve of Livermore, center, was among four candidates who met the Regional School Unit 9 superintendent search committee’s criteria. Meserve is flanked Thursday at a board meeting by Darlene Paine, left, principal of Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon, district Business Manager Kris Pottle and board Chairwoman Jennifer Zweig-Hebert, right, of Starks. (Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal)