The search for a Kenosha Unified superintendent will intensify next week as a firm narrowing the field of applicants selects candidates for the School Board to interview.

Gary Vaillancourt, the district’s marketing and community relations director, said Ray & Associates, which is assisting the board in its final selection will submit candidate names to the board on Monday. The board will then begin interviews the week of Feb. 15 and interview forums for the public are expected to follow.

The board is seeking a successor to Superintendent Joe Mangi, who has been doing the job since 2007, first in an interim capacity. Mangi said has he wants to retire. His contract ends June 30.

As advertised, the superintendent position pays about $195,000 plus benefits. According to the timeline submitted by the search firm, the person selected as superintendent is expected to be offered a contract by March.

Under the state open records law, the School Board must make public the names of its finalists. Boards in Kenosha County, including Unified, however, have a history of skirting disclosure of finalists. In 2002 and 2003, the Kenosha News consulted with Wisconsin State Attorney General’s office when the board declined the release of the names of its finalists.

The law states: “Final candidate includes, whenever there are at least five candidates for an office or position, each of the five candidates who are considered most qualified for the office or position by an authority, and whenever there are less than five candidates for an office or position, each such candidate.”

In December, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel successfully sued Milwaukee Public Schools to release the names of six people considered finalists after that district’s board refused. The board had only released the names of three it considered finalists. The board contended the pool of six were actually semi-finalists. The newspaper said it was able to show each of the six were being “given serious consideration for appointment,” resulting in the release of the remaining names.