By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — Dr. Frank W. Pallotta Jr., former school chief in Lincoln and past president of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, has been named the Burrillville school district’s interim school superintendent.

Pallotta of North Providence was appointed to the position by a unanimous decision of the School Committee at an early-morning meeting Friday. He starts his new job on Monday.
Pallotta succeeds outgoing Superintendent Steven Welford, who is leaving the district July 24 to take a similar position with the Westerly public school system.
School Committee Chairwoman Debra L. Stockwell said the committee is still in the process of negotiating a contract and salary for Pallotta, who retired from the Lincoln school district in 2003. In August of that year he became principal at Christ the Redeemer Academy in West Warwick.
Because the Burrillville position is interim in nature, the School Committee did not have to advertise the job, interview candidates or go through the typical hiring process. Pallotta will oversee the district until such time as the committee hires a permanent replacement with help from a committee-appointed superintendent search committee.
According to Stockwell, Pallotta is well-known to the Burrillville School Committee because he is a 20-plus year member of the North Providence School Committee and served as president of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees.
Last week, the School Committee hired veteran Massachusetts educator Ralph Olsen to succeed Burrillville High School Principal Robert Boule, who retired last month after serving as Burrillville High School’s interim principal. Boule became principal following the resignation of Donald Rebello in 2007.
Olsen of Westborough, Mass., one of two finalists recommended to the School Committee by Welford, was given a full one-year contract with a salary of $90,000.
Olsen retired on Aug. 31, 2004 under the Massachusetts Retirement Plus program, but came back to work in 2005 as interim principal at Sharon High School where he worked for one year after being contracted by the New England School Development Council. After that stint, he was hired as principal at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River in July of 2006. Olsen  served in that position while receiving “critical need waivers” from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The waiver allowed Olsen, who had reached retirement age for an educator, to fill the position rather than someone not receiving retirement benefits because the School Department had not received applicants who better fit the school’s needs.
Before he retired, he was principal of Framingham High School from 1990 to 1998 and principal of Weymouth Vocational Technical High School from 1997 to 1998. From 1993 to 1997, he was principal at Ashland High School, and from 1981 to 1983, he was principal of North Middlesex Regional High School in Townsend, Mass.
Welford is leaving after two years as Burrillville’s school chief.
Welford was hired by Burrillville in 2006 to replace former School Superintendent Barbara A. VonVillas, who left the district halfway through the year. Welford’s appointment completed a search that lasted several months, after the committee voted not to renew the contract of VonVillas, who had been the Burrillville superintendent for seven years.