NORTHAMPTON MA – The community will have a chance Wednesday, in a whirlwind of meetings and interviews, to hear from three candidates for the post of school superintendent, topped off with a planned decision by the school board. 

The three finalists, chosen from a pool of 16 applicants for the superintendent’s job, are: Timothy Lee, principal of Morris elementary school in Lenox; John W. Johnson, communications director for Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction; and Laurie Bell Farkas, Northampton’s director of student services since 2012.

The finalists are scheduled to visit all city schools Wednesday to meet with teachers, staff and school councils. Parents and other city residents will have a chance to meet them from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at JFK Middle School’s community room.

The School Committee will conduct public interviews in that room starting at 6:30 p.m. and will likely make a choice for new superintendent that night, according to board member Stephanie Pick, who is heading the search process. Lee will be interviewed at 6:30, followed by Johnson at 7:30 and Farkas at 8:30. Those sessions are also open to the public.