For the elected officials representing the families in Boston Public Schools, the new district superintendent will need a litany of skills to take on a mountain of challenges in the country’s oldest school district.

This new superintendent “will be the most important hiring decision this mayor will make,” said Mark Culliton, CEO of College Bound Dorchester. His organization partners with BPS and runs the Little House Alternative Middle School, the district’s largest alternative middle school, as well as other programs.

“The first big thing to tackle is the systemic failures for subsections of the student body. The fact that there are whole groups are being failed while there are pockets of excellence,” said Culliton, who, like others, cited shortcomings for English language learners and special education students compared to those in high-achieving exam schools like Boston Latin School.

Last week the city announced its four superintendent finalists from a field of 70 candidates nationwide: Dr. Dana Bedden, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools in Virginia; Dr. Tommy Chang, local instructional superintendent, Intensive Support & Innovation Center at the Los Angeles Unified School District; Guadalupe Guerrero, deputy superintendent of instruction, innovation, and social justice for San Francisco Unified School District; and Pedro Martinez, superintendent-in-residence for the Nevada Department of Education.

All four men will each spend a day this week in a marathon of interviews, meetings, and panels with elected officials, parents, students, the press, and other stakeholders before the mayorally appointed 12-member school committee selects its new permanent superintendent on Tuesday, March 3 at BPS headquarters on Court Street.

At-Large City Councillor Ayanna Pressley called the day-long interview process “exhaustive.”

“What I mostly appreciated was the opportunity to have a window into the process because the decision is such an important one,” she said. “I do believe it is unprecedented that it was this transparent.”

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, chair of the joint committee on education, and other electeds including City Councillor Tito Jackson and State Rep. Nick Collins, have been a part of morning meetings with each candidate.

“I’m looking for the ability of the candidate to move the issues on achievement gap,” Chang-Diaz said, when asked to identify the first big issue the new superintendent should tackle. “That includes a ton of things, but it specifically includes things ranging from being an effective coalition builder, valuing parental involvement, and building a strong leadership team in the central office.”

The new superintendent faces significant hurdles when he–all four candidates are men–takes over a district that includes a more than $50 million budget deficit and facilities in bad need of upgrade. Current interim superintendent John McDonough has been in place since May 2013 after Dr. Carol Johnson stepped down after six years as superintendent. McDonough has faced a litany of issues in the district, from severe scheduling problems at Madison Park, alterations to the Dearborn School, transporting 7th and 8th graders on the MBTA, and teacher hiring concerns.

“This is a system that needs a long-term leader,” said Jackson, who chairs the council’s committee on education. “One that has a five to seven year vision for BPS. We’ve been without a permanent leader for over a year and a half. It’s absolutely critical that we get a strong, innovative leader.”

City Councillor Matt O’Malley, vice chair of the council’s education committee, said the new superintendent needs to “juggle three, four, five balls at a time,” including cooperation with parents and students and “ensuring resources and facilities are as strong as humanly possible. The goal is to grow the public school system,” O’Malley continued. “We have fewer than 60,000 students but a generation ago we had close to 100,000.”

Everyone involved in the process has acknowledged that the new superintendent will face serious and significant challenges, but with the right candidate, progress can be made.

“Someone needs to come in and say ‘I’m going to be the first school district to close the achievement gap,’ ” Culliton said. “It’s such a small district, relatively, that we can do it. But you have to be passionate, committed, and have to be willing to take on the status quo.”