The retirement of two more senior school district administrators raises some new questions for the Lawrence school board as it prepares to search for a replacement for Superintendent Randy Weseman.

On Wednesday, Deputy Superintendent Bruce Passman and Chief Operations Officer Mary Rodriguez announced that they would end their careers with the school district at the same time as Weseman, at the end of this school year. Weseman’s retirement probably influenced their decisions, but every indication is that the timing simply seemed right for Passman, 59, and Rodriguez, 54, and their departures don’t signal a house-cleaning or any dissatisfaction with the district.

Nonetheless, vacancies in three top positions create some new questions for the board. Should they go ahead and fill the positions held by Passman and Rodriguez or leave that job to whomever they hire as the new superintendent? Would a new superintendent, like a new college basketball or football coach, be more attracted to the Lawrence job if he or she could bring one or two top people along?

Related to those questions is whether the board wants to maintain the district’s current direction or is looking at filling these positions as an opportunity to move in new directions. With the two retirements announced this week, there are relatively few current employees in the district who would be prepared to serve as superintendent, although more might be interested in the other central administration jobs. Board members will need to balance whatever desire they have for continuity in the district’s leadership against any desire to bring in someone with new ideas and strategies for the district. Fortunately the timing of the retirement announcements will give board members ample time to consider their direction.

Hiring such a key person as a school superintendent is an exciting opportunity, but it is not without some peril. The Lawrence district is running smoothly now, but putting the wrong person at the helm could bring an end to that situation fairly quickly.

There are many issues facing the Lawrence school board, but no task board members undertake will be more important to the future of Lawrence than the selection of new leadership for our school district.