The search for a new Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School principal will focus initially on off-Island candidates after none of the current Vineyard principals expressed interest in the job, superintendent Richard Smith told the high school committee this week.

“I did reach out to current principals on the Island. Those current principals are interested in staying in their schools,” Mr. Smith said at Monday’s committee meeting.

“They love their schools, and I don’t blame them for wanting to stay,” said Mr. Smith, who created the high school vacancy when he hired principal Sara Dingledy for a new position supervising curriculum, instruction and operations Islandwide.

“We’ll do a robust search. And if that does not bear fruit, we will look into the school [staff],” he said. 

Mr. Smith has formed a community advisory committee to provide a panorama of Island perspectives during the principal search.

The committee’s 30 members represent parents, teachers, counselors and other school employees, as well as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the local NAACP and the Island English Learner Parent Council, Mr. Smith said. Junior class president Milo Sullivan represents the student body and Jennifer Cutrer the regional high school committee.

“If we have multiple voices and perspectives in the room, I think we’ll get a really good flavor of those who we see as [a]possible long-term principal here at the high school,” Mr. Smith said.

Ms. Dingledy, who was hired as principal in 2016, remains a member of the high school building committee, which this week selected a renovation and addition design for the proposed construction project.

In her new position at Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, Ms. Dingledy will work with assistant superintendent Megan Farrell to coordinate instruction across the Island’s five town schools, so that students are ready for their transition to the regional high school, Mr Smith said.

“Sara is going to have a lot of oversight and will be working with Megan Farrell, our assistant superintendent, so we can have an articulated K-12 program,” he said.

“We’ve been talking about regionalization, and we can do so in finance, but we can certainly do so immediately in our practice,” Mr. Smith said, noting that the school system is rolling out a common literacy program for all children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

“It will be the first time in my 23 years in Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools that we’re going to have a common curriculum program, not just in literacy, but anywhere other than our health initiative way back in 2018,” he said.