The Hopatcong school district still has yet to fill its open high school principal position, Superintendent Dr. Charles Maranzano said.

"We want to make sure we've covered as much territory in the screening process as possible," said Maranzano, who also said the district has interviewed hopefuls. "There's a strong committee" of administrators vetting principal candidates and "they're setting the bar high."

Maranzano had said he hopes to have the job filled by July 1. Maranzano said the shift's purpose was to strengthen administration at the lower levels, bolstering student performance.

The district announced a principal shakeup in May after Tulsa Trail School Principal Dr. Joanne Mullane asked to take over open curriculum supervisor duties vacated by William Roca's retirement. Mullane spent just a year as the elementary school's principal and was its third in as many years.

The move resulted in shifting each of the district's principal's to lower grade levels, save Hudson Maxim School Principal Tracy Heinz, who stayed put. Twelfth-year high school Prinicipal Emil Binotto will head to the middle school while the principal there, Lou Benfatti, goes to Durban Avenue. That school's principal, Brian Byrne, will assume Mullane's spot at Tulsa Trail.

Soon after the district finds its high school leader, it will turn its attention upward.

Maranzano, 64, announced his retirement Monday, effective at the end of the 2012-2013 school year.