With Friday afternoon’s release of the Principal Selection Input Committee roster, the process for appointing next year’s principal is running on schedule.

As outlined by the district’s Human Resource Center, the PSIC is comprised of nine members: four teachers, one support staff, two parents, and two students. The allotted teachers include Jack Bungarden from the History Department, Kathy Lawrence and Kenyon Scott from the Science Department, and David Cohen from the English Department. Carolyn Benfield, secretary to the principal, will serve on behalf of the support staff. Hilary Freeman and Harry Plant were designated as the parent representatives. Student body president Mohammed Abid and student body vice president Neil Ketchum were chosen as the student delegates.

As part of the application for the PSIC, candidates were asked to explain why they wanted to serve on the committee and what insights and experience they would bring to the committee. In addition, each candidate was required to come up with two hypothetical interview questions to ask the prospective principal. After evaluating the submitted applications at its April 16 meeting, the Site Council appointed members to the committee.

Members are expected to have broad knowledge of the goals, values and operations of Paly and are intended to collectively represent many different perspectives of the Paly community. Each representative will have an equal voice in the procedure.

According to the principal selection guidelines, the role of the PSIC is to receive input from the community, articulate the needs of the school, identify particular skills and qualities of leadership, provide information for interview questions, and interview qualified candidates.

As forecasted by Scott Bowers, assistant superintendent of the Human Resource Center, who is overseeing the selection procedure, the PSIC will establish a “base line” which all nominees must match up against. By the beginning of May, the PSIC should have narrowed the field of contenders down to between six and 10. After conducting interviews during the week of May 18, the PSIC will devise a ranking system and recommend two or three finalists to the superintendent. As of now, the superintendent is set to follow up on the PSIC’s recommendations between May 21 and June 1. June 5 has been listed as the target date for the superintendent’s recommendation to the Palo Alto Board of Education for final approval.

Vital to the selection process is the district superintendent, a position that incumbent Mary Frances Callan announced her resignation from earlier this year. Although her retirement only goes into effect Aug. 30, 2007, replacements are being interviewed April 27-28. This makes the projected timeline somewhat uncertain, as district officials are hopeful that the newly installed superintendent can make the final recommendation to the school board. According to Bowers, Callan will carry out the duties if a new superintendent has not been instated by then.

“We don’t want to prolong the process,” Bowers said at Thursday evening’s Parent Teacher Student Association meeting. “It’s not a major concern, but it’s something we must consider.”