The King Philip School District has received about 40 applications for the high school principal job, Superintendent Elizabeth Zielinski said Monday night.

The superintendent, speaking at the King Philip School Committee meeting, said efforts toward finding a new principal continue. Zielinski said she had sent a letter to parents asking for volunteers for a search committee.

"If we put everyone [who responded] on, we may have a search committee of 60 people," she said. "We got feedback from all three towns."

Zielinski said she was hoping to hire a principal by the second week of June, and will create a schedule to accomodate that goal.

"There needs to be a transition time between Rob [Wargo, the current principal] and the new person," she said.

Zielinski said the district is hoping to include students, members of the school committee and teachers in the search process as well.

She said the search committee would only see a small number of those who applied.

"We had people who applied from outside the country and a variety of different states," she said. 'To be honest, it's a little late in the season — there are maybe three or four good candidates elsewhere."

Committee member Anna Tupper asked if an interim principal — like Wargo's predecessor, Charles Flahive — was a possibility. Zielinski said it was.

"My main concern is that we need stability in the high school," she said. "We're in the middle of accreditation and we're now working on a brand-new evaluation instrument."

Wargo announced his resignation earlier this month to take the position at Scituate High School, which is closer to his home. He had been hired by King Philip last year, after serving as assistant principal.