Peninsula school board chooses to focus on capital measure over superintendent search

The to-do list for the Peninsula School District Board of Directors continues to grow even after finalizing teacher salary negotiations, appointing a new board director, hiring an interim superintendent and beginning the budget process for the next year.

During a Sept. 13 study session, directors discussed which was a bigger priority, a capital measure or hiring a permanent superintendent. The capital measure seemed to top most priority lists.

First, interim Superintendent Art Jarvis introduced Colleen Miller, director of leadership development services with the Washington State Schools’ Directors Association from Olympia. Miller came to the study session to help the board start the process of finding a permanent superintendent.

“You are going to be strategic about this,” Miller said. “The processes that work the most effectively engage your stakeholders and their input, and you go out early. It’s more difficult than you think to find a superintendent.”

Miller had the board create a list of “factors” that would affect the search while handing out papers that contained a list of questions superintendent candidates will ask about the board.

Questions included:

▪ Has the board been supportive of the superintendent in the past?

▪ Are the members on the board for the “right reasons?”

▪ Do board members like each other?

▪ Do board members grandstand to the public and the press.

This is not the first time this board has had to hire a superintendent.

“All of us, with the exception of (Director Lori Glover), were elected and then had to hire a superintendent two years ago,” Director David Olson said. “So we have been through this process before.”

Director Deborah Krishnadasan reiterated Olson’s point, saying she was concerned about bringing in a whole new search process that would pile on work for the district’s staff.

Miller noted the last superintendent, Rob Manahan, only stayed for a couple of years. She said the association’s process would help find a long-lasting leader.

Olson interrupted the conversation to say getting a capital measure passed to build new infrastructure in the district is a bigger priority for him than finding a new superintendent.

“Passing a bond or levy will take a lot of manpower,” he said. “And I worry about having (Jarvis) be the face of the campaign and then hiring someone in the middle of the campaign.”

Other directors agreed they were more concerned about passing a bond or levy, including an enrichment levy.

Jarvis said he is not applying to be the permanent superintendent but would be willing to stay in the district as long as necessary.

In other news

Board President Marcia Harris is attending a legislative conference in a week. Harris hopes to garner lobbying support to lower the 60 percent supermajority needed to pass a bond, as required by the state constitution.

The board discussed what its ideal threshold would be to pass a bond. While a couple of directors supported a simple majority of 50 percent plus 1, the consensus was to lobby for a 55 percent majority.

“(The supermajority) is holding back communities,” Krishnadasan said. “It holds back our children and their education. I don’t think I can support 50, but I think a 55 percent is something to explore.”