UPDATED: Carpenter Last Candidate Standing for Harvard Post

UPDATED 11:30 A.M.

Lincoln-Sudbury Superintendent/Principal Scott Carpenter will have to wait a little longer to find out whether he will be chosen as the next superintendent for Harvard Public Schools.

According to an online report, the Harvard school committee opted to withhold the announcement of a hiring after Freetown-Lakeville Superintendent Jessica Huizenga called at 4 p.m., Monday, to withdraw for "personal reasons."

Interim Harvard Superintendent Joseph Connolly told Sudbury Patch the school committee got word of Huizenga's decision just as they were arriving for their meeting Monday night.

"They were ready to discuss two candidates and then had just one to discuss," Connolly said. "They felt they needed time to think about the next step in the process."

Connolly said the committee agreed to next meet at 1 p.m. on Friday to discuss how to proceed.

"There's no definite strategy," he said. "They just need a chance to think about it."

Huizenga also could not be reached for comment.

Carpenter was one of two remaining candidates for the Harvard post.

“I have spent two decades in high schools, and the opportunity to go to a grade K to 12 setting would involve growth,” Carpenter told the L-S school committee at a December meeting.

He said that the decision to apply for another job does not diminish his deep commitment to Lincoln-Sudbury.  

“I love Lincoln-Sudbury. It’s something I feel very at home with,” Carpenter said, describing a moment of hesitation before he hit the send button to email his application for the Harvard position. “It is sometimes a conflict between growth and where your heart is.”

The Harvard School Committee had scheduled two open public forums to provide an opportunity to meet and speak with the two finalists.

Carpenter's was on Jan. 10 at Bromfield Library Media Center.

Carpenter was not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning.

(Ann Kenda contributed to this report.)