As the search for a new principal nears an end, two finalists visited the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School last week, discussing their approaches to leadership during meetings with students, faculty and community members.

Earlier this month a search committee named David Williams, the former principal of York Middle School in York, Me., and Sara Dingledy, principal at Westchester Square Academy in the Bronx, N.Y., as finalists out of 20 candidates for the job.

A third finalist, David Fabrizio, withdrew his candidacy last after opting to remain employed by the Ipswich School district.

Mr. Williams visited the high school Thursday.

Sara Dingledy, principal at Westchester Square Academy in New York.

Mark Lovewell

Sara Dingledy, principal at Westchester Square Academy in New York.

Mark Lovewell

He said he takes a hands-on approach to leadership, including teaching courses while serving as principal.

“Incredibly challenging and incredibly time consuming with all the other things that are on the principal’s plate in this day and age to be able to make the time for that, but it’s something I’m committed to,” he said. “It did wonders for staff culture and staff moral because I do have really, really high expectations for teachers and I’m unapologetic about that.”

He said students should graduate from high school with a sense of grit, strong literacy and writing skills and the ability to believe in themselves. He said student culture reflects staff culture, which reflects the leadership.

Mr. Williams also spoke about his commitment to transparency, outlining the resources he developed at past positions, including an online forum where parents could ask him questions and he would respond publicly.

“That kind of transparency with the community is critical. I think you have to wear the data on your sleeve whether it’s good or it’s bad,” he said. “We have school improvement goals and we need to report out where we are in relation to those goals, if we’re not meeting them, fine, let’s be honest about that and let’s talk as a community about how we’re going to get there.”

When asked about it, he also spoke openly about being arrested for drunken driving in Maine last year.

“You need to take responsibility for your actions, you need to own it, you need to find a way to learn from it,” he said. “It’s how we respond to our failures that make us great leaders . . . I tried to embody that for my kids.”

He said if offered the job, he would move before the July 1 start date so he could spend time in the building and the school district.

Friday was Ms. Dingledy’s turn to visit the high school, and she ended the day talking to a slightly larger group of community members, staff and students about the importance of consistency in building a school culture and the values that drive that culture.

“There should be certain things that we do in every classroom, that when you walk in you know we’re at MVRHS — it’s the way that we do things,” she said. “All kids should love school. There should be a joy factor and it shouldn’t be that they just love the 50 minutes that they’re in one specific class. There should be things about it that make them know that they’re in a fair, consistent, caring, supportive educational environment.”

Values, common practices and shared language all add to the school’s culture, she said, of which the students should be the guardians. Enforcement of rules also stems from a shared culture, the candidate said.

“You can’t just say, here’s the new rule and kids can’t wear this anymore or you can’t do this anymore,” she said. “You have to say, so we really value instructional time, we have this much time with your child and I’m going to make sure all of that time is purposefully programed, keeps kids on task and makes sure we can achieve the most with the students. And because of that we think we may need to do this.”

Ms. Dingledy said it is important that students gain social and emotional skills as well as academic skills.

“Some of the qualities are recognizing and showing gratitude, having a sense of optimism, finding ways to be kind, dealing with frustration, finding ways to be reflective and set your own personal goals.  I think those are things that need to be common practices and I think are really important for schools to explicitly say,” she said.

Asked about testing, she said assessment is important. “But I do think those assessments are not just tests. I think you have to asses what students are able to do as well as what they know,” she said.

Ms. Dingledy and her family are familiar with the Island, having spent many summers here. One of the draws of moving to the Vineyard is the community her children would grow up in, she said.

Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. Matthew D’Andrea encouraged people to fill out evaluation forms, which will help him make his decision.

He said he hopes to announce a decision by early February, after site visits to one or both of the candidates’ schools.