AMHERST — A search for a permanent superintendent for the Amherst Regional Public Schools is officially under way with the selection of a consultant to assist school officials.

The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee and the Union 26 School Committee both unanimously voted, at a joint meeting Jan. 10, to hire Ray and Associates Executive Leadership Search, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to help find a successor to Maria Geryk, who departed in August with a $309,238 severance package.

Assistant Superintendent Michael Morris has been the interim superintendent since Geryk left.

Regional Committee Chairman Eric Nakajima said in a phone interview Monday that the committees decided to hire Ray and Associates because the company could meet an aggressive timeline to have a new superintendent hired in early spring and in place for July 1.

“The challenge is a tight schedule,” Nakajima said.

In October, the two committees decided to invest in a search process, which Human Resources Director Kathryn Mazur said at the time would cost between $28,500 and $39,500. Doing a search internally would still cost between $14,000 and $17,000, Mazur said.

The committees received two bids, but reissued the requests for quotes, Nakajima said.

Ray and Associates, which bid $17,000, was recommended by Sean Mangano, finance director for the schools, after New England School Development Council, or NESDEC, couldn’t meet the speedy schedule.

“Their proposal was much more appealing than the other one,” Mangano said.

An additional $10,000 to $15,000 will be spent in advertising and related costs, Mangano said.

Michael Rush, an associate for Ray and Associates, came to the school committee’s join meeting from Lakewood, New Jersey. He explained that applications will be due March 3, and a decision by the School Committee will made at its March 27 meeting, so a new superintendent can be assured to start in the middle of the calendar year.

Rush said he anticipates around 70 applications, a field that will be narrowed to eight to 12 people on the basis of answers to 25 questions. Three finalists will be interviewed publicly.

The consultant is scheduled to meet with teachers, staff and parents next Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 23-24, and there will be additional public engagement, Nakajima said.

The committees also will help the consultant put together a profile of the district and a job description with salary. Geryk was paid $158,000.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.