School Committee chair Nancy Cavanaugh on Thursday announced members would be entering into negotiations with Hopkinton High School Principal Evan Bishop to become the district’s next superintendent of schools.

Pending a contract agreement, Bishop will begin his new role July 1.

Current superintendent Carol Cavanaugh is retiring.

The committee went off air on HCAM for approximately one hour to talk about a selection for the position. The other finalist was Mark McLaughlin, interim superintendent in South Hadley.

Nancy Cavanaugh said the vote for Bishop was unanimous. A recording of the discussion will be available for viewing on HCAM on Friday, she said.

The members went off air so they could call both candidates with the decision rather than having the news publicly broadcast first.

Bishop has worked in the district since 2005, becoming principal at the high school in 2013. Prior to that, he was an assistant principal and school counselor.

He earned his principal/assistant principal license for grades 9-12 from Boston University, a master’s in school counseling from Suffolk University and his undergraduate degree in sociology from Fairfield University. In 2017, he earned his superintendent/assistant superintendent license.

During an interview last week with the School Committee, Bishop said Hopkinton is like a second home to him and he had no interest pursuing a superintendent’s position anywhere else.

Bishop said everything he does is “student-centered,” and he likes to use compassion and transparency in his decision making.

School projects updated

The School Committee also received an update on the Hopkins and Charleswood School projects.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Facilities Susan Rothermich noted both projects are on schedule with commitments to date of 86% ($45,324,959) out of a $52.4 million budget for Hopkins.

She reviewed a series of slides of ongoing work and said looking ahead, the developer is hoping to obtain a building permit. The submittal was made last fall and work has been allowed to proceed while some items are resolved in the meantime.

Other information Rothermich shared included the change order total to date of $71,339, architect expenditures so far of $2,522,484, and the owner project manager’s contract value at 35% ($740,350).

For Charleswood, the assistant superintendent noted the Conservation Commission gave its approval for the street improvement plan, and the Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC) authorized the construction documents to go out to bid.

The construction contract is expected to be awarded in May, with work beginning in June or July.

As of February estimates, that project is running $8.6 million under budget.

Library grant money unavailable

Superintendent Cavanaugh told the committee about a grant that appeared to be forthcoming for the school libraries that the district learned is unavailable.

Library media specialist Wendy MacArthur applied for the grant (amounting to about $4,000) to purchase books in the native languages of students so they could read them while learning English.

School Committee member Kyla McSweeney asked if there is a way to make up the money by approaching associations in town or school support organizations.

“We can internally reach out,” the superintendent responded, with the Chinese American Association and Hopkinton Parent Teacher Organization mentioned as possible sources.

HHS students earn national honors

In her superintendent’s report, Carol Cavanaugh highlighted the accomplishments of Hopkinton High School students whose artwork earned five national awards in the Scholastic Art Awards competition.

They are silver award winner Pascaline Tetteh and gold award winners Maya Schnur, Macy McKibben and Anabelle Lui (two awards).

The students and their educators will be honored at a ceremony in New York City’s Carnegie Hall, where their work will be on display.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Carol Cavanaugh said, adding that art staff and students are “over the moon about this, and they should be.”

The School Committee also approved a trip for five Hopkinton Middle School students to participate in the VEX Worlds robotics competition in Dallas from May 11-14.