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Steamboat Springs — A new Strawberry Park Elementary School principal could be hired as soon as Wednesday, district officials said.

The two finalists for the vacant position interviewed Friday with the school's teachers.

"I think that given the fact that we went out to the market late, we have some quality candidates," said Superintendent Donna Howell, who also met with the applicants Friday.

Both applicants are current Colorado elementary principals with more than 10 years of experience.

In May, then-principal Mark MacHale announced he was leaving the district to become the superintendent in Dolores. He replaced John DeVincentis as the school's principal two years ago.

"I'm getting feedback from the staff, and I'm waiting on a few calls back on some references," Howell said. "I'm hoping to make a decision early next week - Wednesday morning, at the latest, because we have a board meeting that night."

Brenda Smith Barr, principal at Buena Vista Elementary School in Colorado Springs, interviewed early Friday morning.

"Two things drew me to the position - the mountains and because Strawberry Park is both a Montessori school and a traditional school," said Barr, who received her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies on June 8 from the University of Denver.

"The school I am at now is also both traditional and Montessori," she said. "It gives parents many different kinds of programs so they can choose what is best for their child."

The 42-year-old native of Huntsville, Ala., earned her bachelor's and master's at the University of Alabama. Barr became Buena Vista's principal two years ago after working as an assistant principal and as an instruction facilitator in Colorado Springs.

Barr began her career in Oxford, Miss., as a high school teacher before taking a position with the Mississippi Department of Education.

Linda Gay Cotter also interviewed with Strawberry Park teachers Friday morning, but she was unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.

Cotter completed her first year as principal at Meeker Elementary School in Meeker last week. Prior to that, she was an assistant principal, counselor and mentor teacher with the Eagle School District.

Cotter earned her bachelor's degree from Illinois State University, her master's degree from the Naropa Institute in Boulder and her principal license from Adams State College.

The mean salary last year for the two elementary principal positions in the Steamboat Springs School District was $85,000, but Howell said she could not confirm what compensation the district would offer the new hire.

"We are going to be meeting on (June 27) to discuss salary for administrators next year, so I don't have a final figure," said Howell, who noted a background check would be completed after the position is offered. "The job is contingent on those checks. That's the policy, even with teachers."