New London — New London native Richard P. Foye, who was passed over a decade ago to serve as superintendent of the city’s schools, will be named interim superintendent today, according to multiple sources.

The extended contract of Nicholas A. Fischer, the outgoing superintendent, expired Thursday.

Sources close to the decision said Foye will be named superintendent for 90 days while local and state education officials decide what will happen with Terrence P. Carter, the Chicago educator who was the pick of the Board of Education for the position. Before Carter’s final confirmation, problems and discrepancies in his résumé, application and background were made public.

A lifelong resident of the city, Foye served as interim superintendent in New London after controversial Superintendent Julian Stafford abruptly departed in 2003. Foye was a candidate for the permanent job, but in January 2004, the Board of Education named Christopher Clouet to the job. Clouet was at the time superintendent of the 1,300-student Thomaston school district.

That decision led to a public outcry and a petition drive aimed at overturning the school board vote affirming Clouet and forcing the board to replace him with Foye. That effort failed, and Foye left the district for the job of headmaster/superintendent at Woodstock Academy shortly after.

He held that post until he retired in 2009.

On Wednesday, Foye declined to answer questions about whether he would be appointed New London’s interim school superintendent. On Thursday, he could not be reached to comment.

But a number of people familiar with the decision-making process to find a new superintendent said Foye was recruited to temporarily fill the job.

The son of the late Bill Foye, a longtime and popular New London High School principal, Richard Foye worked in education for 35 years before retiring. He started as a history teacher in Killingly and later taught in New London. Over the years, he has served as dean of students and academic officer for curriculum and operations in New London, and principal at Griswold High School and Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School in New London.

During his retirement, he served short stints as interim superintendent of schools in Griswold and principal of Lyme-Old Lyme High School.

Carter, whom the New London school board unanimously selected as its next superintendent on June 12, has been under fire since news reports indicated that he had misrepresented himself — or allowed others to misrepresent him — as having a Ph.D. for more than five years before he completed his doctorate. In addition, Carter has twice filed for bankruptcy in the last 15 years. This week, The Day reported that sections of Carter’s cover letter and application for the superintendent job in New London contain material apparently copied from other sources without attribution.

After a closed-door session in which it questioned Carter last week, the Board of Education voted unanimously to launch an independent investigation into Carter’s academic record and financial background, and to defer any action on his contract until the inquiry is complete. That probe is expected to take about 30 days.

a.baldelli@theday.com