GREENFIELD — The School Committee voted unanimously to approve two interview sessions on Saturday for the seven candidates who have applied to fill Superintendent Karin Patenaude’s role for an interim period.

Two public interview sessions will be held Saturday — one from 9 to 11 a.m. and a second from 7 to 9 p.m. — at the John Zon Community Center.

“We may have anticipated not so many people applying within five days of the interview,” School Committee Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad said. “That speaks well of Greenfield and the opportunity that is here.”

Patenaude has been at the helm of the School Department for less than a year, and announced her resignation, effective July 3, in an email sent to parents and staff on May 23. All seven candidates submitted their applications within the last week.

Working with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), the committee has until the end of the month to hire an interim superintendent, who will serve the district for approximately a year. MASC Field Director Liz Lafond previously remarked that the district is “in a really tight spot,” needing to fill the role in less than a month.

However, Johnson-Mussad announced Wednesday evening that the job posting received seven applicants, a pleasant surprise, as the committee expected a smaller candidate pool.

“Working with the MASC, the position was listed. I think we were surprised at the response. We have a number of applications,” he said.

After Johnson-Mussad proposed setting a time on Saturday to publicly interview four of the seven candidates, Mayor Ginny Desorgher inquired about the other three candidate interviews. Johnson-Mussad responded that he only wished to interview four at once in an effort to manage the committee’s limited time.

“We would need essentially seven hours of interview time, plus probably an hour for deliberation with that number of candidates,” he said. “I honestly think it doesn’t make sense.”

However, after no members agreed with the idea of interviewing four of the seven candidates, the School Committee ultimately decided to approve interviews for all seven candidates on Saturday.

Although she did not disclose her reason for leaving the district and declined to be interviewed by the Greenfield Recorder, Patenaude’s resignation came only days after City Council voted to level-fund the School Department for fiscal year 2026, denying the department’s requested $1.89 million budget increase.

Ending Patenaude’s final School Committee meeting as superintendent, members expressed sadness to see her leave the district and wished her well in her future endeavors. Committee member Elizabeth DeNeeve called Patenaude’s departure “tragic,” saying she was “overwhelmed” by how “incredibly well-thought-out and put together” Patenaude’s work was.

“I just wanted to send my appreciation to you, Karin, for your incredibly hard work. I’ve never heard staff come forward at the end of the negotiation process and talk about what a pleasure it was to work with the superintendent in that process,” Johnson-Mussad added. “We know how hard you’ve worked every day that you’ve worked here … and I’ve had the immense pleasure of working with you, and I felt like I learned so much from the way you lead. Your friendship means the world to me.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429