Northern Lehigh School District plans to appoint its new superintendent next month.

Interim Superintendent Jack Corby announced at Monday's school board meeting that an election of a new superintendent of schools will take place at the Oct. 9 board meeting.Board President Gary Fedorcha said the district plans to welcome the new superintendent with refreshments in the foyer of the district's administrative office building before the board meeting.The district recently released the name of its recommended superintendent candidate, Matt Link, who is currently the assistant superintendent of Kutztown Area School District.Link will start in Northern Lehigh on Jan. 2, Fedorcha said. Link's contract is for 3½ years, though Fedorcha couldn't share other terms of the contract until they are agreed to.In all, 24 applications were received for the district's superintendent position. That field was then narrowed to 10 applications by the Superintendent Search Committee.From those 10 applications, six candidates were selected to interview. All six candidates accepted an initial first-round interview with the district's board of directors, which occurred on July 11 and 12.On Aug. 21, two candidates from the first round of interviews were invited to participate in second-round interviews with community members, administration, teachers, support staff and the board.Fedorcha said the other candidate was Jeanette Gilliland, who serves as assistant superintendent of the Northampton Area School District.On June 22, the board named Corby as the district's interim superintendent.Corby, who started July 1, was hired at a daily rate of $525 in the interim capacity due to the retirement of Superintendent Michael Michaels on June 30 after nine years with the district.Corby was previously superintendent in the Whitehall-Coplay School District for more than 11 years before retiring last year, and the director of secondary education for four years before that.His past stops also included Tamaqua Area School District and Palmerton Area School District.