WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School District on Friday evening announced the two finalists for the position of principal at the middle-high school.

 

Current Mount Greylock Vice Principal Jake Schutz and Kristen Thompson, an assistant principal at New Mexico's West Mesa High School, were advanced as finalists by the 18-member search committee, which conducted its second round of interviews on Thursday, according to an email to the community from Superintendent Kimberley Grady.

 

Schutz has been at Mount Greylock for about seven years, including a year he spent on deployment in Afghanistan with the Massachusetts National Guard.

 

Shortly after his return in 2018, he told iBerkshires.com that his time in the service complemented his role as an administrator at the school.

 

"I think it gives me a perspective of the strict side," he said. "But my background is in special education, so I think I have the complete opposite perspective as well — realizing that everyone's unique. … Sometimes you do need to be strict, and other times you don't, you need to be more lenient."

 

Thompson hails from West Mesa High, a 9-12 senior high school with an enrollment of 1,660 in the Albuquerque Public Schools District.

 

"The dedicated members of this committee participated in a long process so that we can have another great leader for MGRS," Grady wrote in her email. "I want to thank the committee for their time, rich discussions and passion for MGRS. Although Zoom isn't how we have ever had to interviews, this process went smoothly and allowed us to keep moving forward."

 

Grady and the district's human resources specialist served on the search committee but recused themselves from the vote on the finalists.

 

Grady said in her email that she hoped to have an announcement about the successor to Mary MacDonald in the next two weeks.