Monroe Local Schools superintendent Elizabeth Lolli said she is not interested in filling a soon-to-be vacant post to head Middletown City Schools.

Steve Price recently resigned as superintendent of Middletown City Schools as part of a separation agreement with the distinct’s board of education. His last day on the job, he has held since 2002, is July 31.

Lolli, who lives in Middletown and taught in the school system, said she has not applied for the job and has no intentions of doing so.

“I feel very much at home in Monroe, it was very good for us to relocate and it was very good for me to be able to come back to where I started,” said Lolli in an interview with The Pulse-Journal.

“I student-taught in the Monroe side of the Middletown City Schools, I student-taught at Lemon Monroe High School and Monroe Primary (previously Monroe Elementary), and I feel while I still like the challenge of being the superintendent here, I feel very comfortable here.

“It’s home. I’m just glad to be here. I’m glad to be back and be able to serve the children that I serve,” she said.

Lolli said she is not interested in the post because there are things she wants to accomplish in her role as superintendent, which she has held for more than a year.

“There are things that we’ve started here that I want to see finished. We have some really exciting programs for our students and I want to be part of those programs,” she said.

“I believe that the school district is going to experience rapid growth very quickly and I’d like to be involved in the solution for that growth. I think that my allegiance today is to the Monroe Local Schools.”

However, Lolli said she is “concerned” about Middletown schools.

“I very much am concerned about the Middletown City Schools and who they’re going to hire because I want them to hire someone who can do what is right for the school district,” she said.

“The Middletown schools played an important part in my whole life and my career — for 16 years I was involved in the combined school district — and I loved that, but at this point I’m a Hornet.”

Lolli said some other things she wants to accomplish is to stabilize the district’s finances for years to come.

“That will happen when we pass the substitute levy (in November). We’re working very closely with the city on future abatements and tax increment financing, and things like that, and that will help stabilize us also,” she said.