Shoreline Unified School District trustees announced Tuesday that they have selected a candidate to become the district’s next superintendent. Board President Jill Manning-Sartori declined to name the person, citing confidential contract negotiations and background checks as reasons to keep the news under wraps until a public meeting to discuss and potentially approve the contract on April 21. “We are very excited that the process we began last year has produced a candidate who has the qualifications and personal attributes that we all identified at the beginning of this process and who we believe will be great for Shoreline,” Ms. Manning-Sartori wrote in an open letter to the district community. Since last July, Shoreline has operated under Interim Superintendent Nancy Neu following the resignation of the district’s prior superintendent, Tom Stubbs, who left after trustees declined to offer a two-year extension to his $126,000 salaried contract. Interviews of seven candidates were conducted on March 23 and 24 by two committees made up of 14 Shoreline employees and parents; three finalists were narrowed down to two before trustees chose a candidate. Launching a search for a new principal for Tomales Elementary School will be the new superintendent’s first task, according to Ms. Manning-Sartori. The school’s current part-time principal, Jim Patterson, only works three full days a week and has called for additional support from the district in order to return as principal next school year. “That will be something that the new superintendent will be in charge of immediately and will be of the highest priority,” Ms. Manning-Sartori said.