CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The North Berkshire School Union will be looking for a replacement for Superintendent of Schools Jonathan Lev. 

 

Lev, who has led the five-town school union for a decade, recently announced his retirement after 10 years with the district. 

 

He said last week that it was time to retire, noting he was now 67. 

 

The school union committee will meet on April 12 with Patricia Correira, a field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. 

 

"She will present the process for the superintendent's search and go from there," he told the Clarksburg School Committee last week. "I've agreed to stay on until they find a replacement. ... 

 

"Obviously, I went through this 10 years ago and it's the same person, Patricia Correira, who is in charge of the search when I was hired. It seems like yesterday."

 

Lev's degrees from Syracuse (N.Y.) University were in social work but he'd also been a special education teacher before becoming an administrator. The North Adams native was director of special education for the school union when he was tapped as interim superintendent when John D. Barry left after nine years to lead the Southwick-Tolland Regional School District in 2008. He was hired for the post later that year after a search process. (Coincidentally, Correira also helped the school union during the hiring process that selected Barry.)

 

Lev said MASC will help the school union develop criteria for the post and in advertising, such as in Education Weekly, which goes out across the country. MASC can also help with initial screenings and recommendations for finalists. 

 

"I believe there are approximately 50 superintendent searches in Massachusetts this year," he said. "I've gotten many, many emails and pamphlets sent to me about different openings."

 

In addition to North Berkshire, the Mount Greylock and Adams-Cheshire regional school districts are both seeking superintendents and another eight are currently listed on the MASC site. Several posts were filled in late 2017, early 2018. Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, told WBUR last year that turnover in the state's 275 superintendent posts averages 55 to 65 annually. 

 

Lev said he would have stayed to see the completion of the Clarksburg School renovation project, but that proposal was shot down by voters last fall. 

 

In his letter to the school community announcing his retirement, Lev said it was his experiences with the students that motivated him, although being superintendent had made those contacts "more distant and sporadic." He expressed his gratitude to all the staff members from janitors to teachers to administrators he had worked with. 

 

"Working these past 10 years as the superintendent of the North Berkshire School Union, I have learned new skills and sharpened tools I hadn't used before," he wrote. "I have pushed myself to see different perspectives and problem solve in new ways. ...

 

"I promise to continue my commitment to education through my roles as a grandfather and community member, supporting your hard work in any way I can."