The Seward School District has narrowed the superintendent candidate field to three.
     Four groups, including the board of education, will interview three candidates April 10 through 12. They are Greg Barnes of Bertrand, Beth Johnsen of Tilden and Thomas Sharp of Milligan.
     Barnes has been superintendent at Bertrand Community School since 1999. He served as principal and athletic director for two years before becoming superintendent.
     Before going to Bertrand, Barnes was the principal at Chambers Public School from 1991 to 1997 and taught and coached at Chambers from 1987 to 1991.
     Johnsen is the principal at Elkhorn Valley Schools, a position she has held since 2000. Before going to Elkhorn Valley, she was a middle school teacher from 1996 to 2000 and an elementary teacher from 1982 to 1996 at Underwood Schools in Iowa.
     Sharp has been the superintendent at Exeter-Milligan since 2002. From 1998 to 2002, he was shared between Exeter and Milligan public schools, and from 1992 to 1998, he was superintendent at Milligan.
     Before that, he was a teacher at Stromsburg Public Schools from 1980 to 1992, at Bladen Public School from 1979 to 1980 and at Oakland-Craig Public School from 1977 to 1979.
     Each candidate will be interviewed by the district administrators, a group of middle school and high school students, parents, business leaders and community leaders and a group of certified and classified staff members. Each is limited to one hour.
     A formal interview with the school board will conclude the day.
     Marcia Herring of the Nebraska Association of School Boards, which is conducting the search, said the candidates meet the criteria the board set forth at an earlier meeting - leadership, communication, curriculum/instruction and budget/finance.
     The board hopes to make a final selection by Friday, April 13, with a contract to be offered Monday, April 16, at its regular monthly meeting.