The search is on for a new Central Junior High School principal.

Lawrence school district administrators want to see who might emerge in the next two weeks, but they say it’s possible they’ll appoint an interim principal.

“The decision was made to at least test the waters and see what candidates were interested,” said David Cunningham, human resources division director for certified employees.

Because it is so late in the school year, Superintendent Randy Weseman was weighing whether to start looking now or appoint an interim principal and begin the search next school year.

Administrators announced last week that current Principal Frank Harwood would become division director of technology services to replace Mike Eltschinger, who is retiring.

Administrators plan to accept applications for Harwood’s job for two weeks, Cunningham said.

Some Central teachers said they hoped the tighter timeline wouldn’t influence the quality of the candidates who apply.

The staff would be comfortable operating with an interim principal for one year and then trying to find a strong candidate who possesses many qualities Harwood had, including being a “problem solver,” the teachers said.

“We’d all be very disappointed if we had weak candidates and had to pick the best of the weak. That would be very demoralizing to our staff,” said Michel Loomis, a longtime Central English teacher.

If they are comfortable with the pool of candidates, administrators would screen them and have finalists meet with Central teachers, parents and students. Weseman would then discuss the interviews and make a decision.

Cunningham said if administrators were not satisfied with the search in the short term, they could appoint an interim principal and resume the search next school year when more candidates may be available.