4 Marblehead Interim Superintendent Interviews Set For This Week

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead School Committee will interview four finalist candidates — and possibly a fifth — this week to fill the interim superintendent position that Theresa McGuinness has held in the district since November.

Marblehead School Committee Sarah Fox told Patch a fifth interview may be scheduled in addition to the two scheduled for a public meeting on Wednesday night starting at 7 and Thursday starting at 5:30.

The School Committee opted to conduct the replacement search in open meeting this spring — instead of using a traditional steering committee — with hopes of improved transparency. There were eight resumes submitted for the position with School Committee members asked to submit a list of their top four candidates to be brought to the town for interviews.

Among the candidates, Barbara Cataldo, Thaddeus King and Jose Munoz received four interview endorsements, while David Thomson and John Robidoux received three.

Cataldo and Thomson are scheduled for interviews at an open School Committee on Wednesday with Cataldo scheduled for 7:15 p.m. and Thomson scheduled for 8:30. On Thursday, Robidoux is scheduled for a 5:15 p.m. interview with King set for 6:30.

Fox told Patch on Monday that the district's hiring consultant told the Committee that Munoz was not able to schedule an interview at this time and that "we will discuss as a Committee if we will offer a third set of dates."

Fox said she was impressed by the interest in the position and the number of candidates given that it is a second straight interim search and occurring late in the school year.

Cataldo is a former superintendent at Cohasset Public Schools and has recently served as the interim executive director of student services in Hingham.

Thomson has served as the superintendent of Norwood Public Schools and has previously worked in Raynham and the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District.

Robidoux has served as the superintendent of Swansea Public Schools since 2016 and has worked in that district since 2006.

King was the superintendent of Winchendon Public Schools from 2021 through 2023 and is currently the principal of Revere Middle School.

Munoz is currently the acting superintendent of Norwood Public Schools and has previously worked in Boston Public Schools and as a professor at Salem State University.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)