MANCHESTER - A committee reviewing candidates for Manchester school superintendent will meet Friday to decide on three finalists and will announce the names the following Monday, its chairman said.

Ted Rokas, the Ward 5 school board member, said the five members of the superintendent selection committee will spend this week checking references of eight semifinalists that were interviewed via Skype last week.

The committee had planned to pare the list down to three last Saturday, but didn't want to rush the process, Rokas said.

He said a consulting firm working with the committee did criminal background and sex-offender checks of the semi-finalists. But the committee is calling employers and references.

Superintendent Tom Brennan leaves his position June 30, and Rokas said the school board wants a new superintendent on the job July 1.