The School Committee’s search for a superintendent continues, with a second round of internal interviews with the candidates slated to begin this week.

The public will also get an opportunity to ask questions of the candidates through an online survey.

Although the pool has been narrowed down from the seven candidates that were interviewed during the past two weeks, two of which included current Superintendent Richard D’Agostino and William McCaffrey, director of the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center, school committee chairwoman Jennifer Ahearn would not say how many candidates would receive a second interview.

The committee is conducting a search not because it is unhappy with D’Agostino, but because a proper search was never conducted following the departure of former superintendent Peter Horoschak.

Horoschak was placed on administrative leave in September 2012, before his contract was set to expire in July 2013, and D’Agostino, who was serving as director of special education, was named acting superintendent.

In December 2012, a joint agreement between Horoschak and the school committee announced Horoschak’s retirement, the details of which were not disclosed by either party. As the district was facing a number of critical issues at the time, including long-term facilities planning, teacher evaluations and budget formulation, the committee felt it needed a permanent superintendent right away and named D’Agostino to the position in February 2013 through July 2014.

As D’Agostino was nearing the end of his one-year contract, the committee decided to extend it through the 2014-15 school year and post the position in October 2014 to conduct a proper search. D’Agostino’s contract was extended because the school committee was considering consolidation at the time and if approved, felt it would have been difficult to carry that out while simultaneously searching for a superintendent.

“We had 15 [candidates] at the beginning and we interviewed seven,” said committee vice chairman Eugene Nadeau. “We need to determine where we will cut down further.”

Nadeau said he felt all seven candidates that have been looked at are “quite qualified.”

“We have good candidates with good backgrounds to choose from,” he said. “I hope we will end up with a candidate that is a credit to the Warwick School Department. Whether that’s who we have now or someone new, they all fit the bill.”

Nadeau said the committee is being as speedy as it can.

“I don’t believe we’re wasting any time; we’re spending enough to be fair to everyone who has submitted their qualifications to us,” he said. “The biggest part is treating everyone fairly.”

Ahearn agreed that all candidates are very well qualified.

“It’s taking some time, but we want to make sure we find the best individual for our district,” she said. “Everyone is asking very thoughtful questions, so at the end we can say this is the leader in charge of guiding our schools.”

Nadeau said he’s satisfied with the progress the committee has made.

“We’re doing it the right way and everyone will realize that when we finalize the situation,” he said.

Ahearn said the committee is also in the process of developing a survey, as “a reach out tool to the community,” to ask what community members are looking for in a superintendent and to identify capabilities that are important to the community as a whole. Once completed, the survey will be posted on the school department’s website at www.warwickschools.org. While it is currently under modification, the committee hopes to have it ready this week, but it should be posted by Monday at the latest. Community members will have two weeks to complete the survey, a portion of which will provide participants an opportunity to submit questions they would like to see asked of candidates.

“We will select various questions from the survey that will be used as part of the third round of interviews, which will be an open public interview meeting,” Ahearn said. “We hope to see a lot of feedback. We want all the stakeholders to be involved to move our district in a positive direction.”

Ahearn encouraged survey participants to be truthful and provide questions for the public interview meeting.

“The value added will be dictated by the questions we receive, so be thoughtful and provide insight into where our next leader should take us,” she said.

Ahearn said for those who do not have access to a computer but still want to participate, hard copies of the survey will be available at the school administration building, 34 Warwick Lake Ave., Warwick, where they can be filled out and returned to Patricia McDonald, secretary to the superintendent.

Ahearn said she is targeting mid-March to have a final decision, and while the meeting schedule could be impacted by the weather, she said the committee will have a decision well within the timeframe of the superintendent’s current contract, which is set to expire June 30.