The School Committee's Superintendent Search Committee has chosen eight candidates for screening interviews. The names are not public, and interviews will be held in private.

The committee expects to publicly present three or four finalists to the School Committee at its March 9 meeting.

Jan. 14: Search committee named, but not without objections

Interim Superintendent Kathleen Bodie has not publicly said whether she has applied for the job, which she has held after Nate Levenson resigned in August 2008. Her contract ends in June.

The following week, the finalists expect to tour Arlington and interview with the School Committee.

School Committee member Jeff Thielman, who helped build a network of Jesuit high schools and leads North Cambridge Catholic High School, said finalists should map out how they would visit the district. He said he has tried this approach and found that it reveals a lot about a candidate.

Thielman added that, in his experience, three finalists might work better than four.

The School Committee voted to name Allan Tosti, the chairman of the Finance Committee, to fill the spot Brian Mulvey on the 13-person search committee after Mulvey resigned.

Mulvey was named in January to serve as community member on the committee. School Committee member Denise Burns said she understood that Tosti was a municipal appointment and that someone else should be a community member. School Committee member Leba Heigham said she recalled discussion at the January meeting differently. Burns did not offer a name.