Search winds down

Published 12:18 am Wednesday, April 18, 2007

By By KATHIE HEMPEL / Niles Daily Star
NILES – And then there were four.
The list of candidates for the top position with Brandywine Community Schools has been whittled down to four. Interviews for the position will begin Wednesday, April 25.
Candidates under consideration are: Robert M. Orlowski, South Bend Community Schools Corporation's assistant superintendent of administration, John H. Jarpe, principal of Brown Elementary School in Saint Joseph, Thomas T.Palmer, Fremont High School principal and MaryAnn B. DeVries, North Pennfield Elementary School principal from Battle Creek.
According to their resumes, each of the candidates brings a considerable amount of experience to the table.
Interviews will start with Palmer. His experience includes 17 years as an educator, with the past five years spent in his current position.
A second interview will be held the first night with DeVries. She has held her current position since 1996 and headed the K-12 math core team in her district since 2003. DeVries has 31 years of education experience.
On Friday, April 27, the second round of interviews will begin with Jarpe. With 33 years of experience, he spent eight of those years in the Brandywine Community Schools as an elementary teacher and as assistant principal of Brandywine Elementary from 1986 to 1988.
The last to be interviewed, also on April 27, is Orlowski. He has spent a total of 28 years working in the South Bend education system, taking only one six-year break to work as assistant superintendent for Prairie United School Corporation, a rural Indiana school district.