Schools Chief Search Off Schedule in Boston

The closely watched search for a new superintendent in Boston has taken such a rocky turn that the search committee’s revised timeline now envisions January as the starting time for the new schools chief.

Four highly regarded educators said they were not interested in the post after the city’s leading newspaper identified them as top candidates. The events further delayed a decision the Boston School Committee had hoped to make by the time Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant departed on June 30.

Among the wounded in the dust-up this month: a school committee chairwoman and community activists who are spitting mad that names of possible candidates were published during a confidential stage of the process; a newspaper under attack for doing what it considered its civic duty; and a handful of educators who had to scramble to respond publicly to what they thought would...