by Marty Green
One of the two remaining candidates for Harvard's superintendent of schools has dropped out of contention, School Committee chair SusanMary Redinger announced at the committee's Monday meeting. The School Committee had planned to vote that evening on the choice between Scott R. Carpenter, of the Lincoln-Sudbury school system, and Jessica L. Huizenga, of Freetown-Lakeville.
Instead, however, members voted to table discussion of the hiring when Redinger reported that Huizenga had called around 4 p.m. on Monday to say that she was withdrawing her application "for personal reasons." The committee agreed to post a meeting for 1 p.m. Friday, January 18, to discuss how to proceed.
Both at a public forum and at a meeting with the School Committee last Friday, Huizenga had appeared enthusiastic about the prospect of coming to Harvard as superintendent. She fielded questions from parents, students, teachers, and committee members for nearly two hours, after spending the day visiting the schools.
A third finalist, Judith Paolucci, withdrew earlier to accept an offer from the Leicester, Mass., district. A search committee chose Carpenter, Huizenga, and Paolucci as finalists from a pool of about 30 applicants.