Outgoing Peninsula schools chief is taking yet another ‘interim’ job, this one in Bellevue
After announcing his retirement, Peninsula superintendent Art Jarvis is taking a new job at the Bellevue School District. The district’s board of directors announced in a release late Tuesday that Jarvis would be taking over as interim superintendent.
Jarvis is something of a serial retiree. He has held five “interim” positions since retiring from the Enumclaw school district in 2007, including a five-year stint as head of Tacoma Public Schools.
In the release, Bellevue’s current acting superintendent Eva Collins praised the selection.
“I welcome Dr. Jarvis to the Bellevue School District and look forward to working alongside him in planning for the Fall, as students return in-person full-time,” Collins said. “Dr. Jarvis brings with him a wealth of experience as an interim superintendent and an understanding of how to support districts through transitions.”
Jarvis will start in the role on July 1 after he departs Peninsula on June 30 to be replaced by Krestin Bahr. Bahr had previously been the superintendent for Eatonville, which is currently in its own process of seeking a replacement.
Attempts by The Gateway to reach Jarvis through a Peninsula district spokesperson for comment went unanswered.
In Bellevue, previous superintendent Ivan Duran had announced he was stepping down earlier this month. According to KOMO, Duran said he was leaving the district that has nearly 20,000 students and 29 schools due to the last year being “the most difficult in my professional life.”
Previously, the teachers’ union in Bellevue had expressed criticism over Duran’s plans to bring back staff without requiring vaccinations. According to the Seattle Times, the Bellevue district sued the Bellevue Education Association to try to force staff back to teaching regardless of vaccination status. The court denied the claim citing “insufficient evidence” and KUOW reported that the district would eventually reach an agreement with the union on a return, albeit on a longer timeline.
Jarvis also faced his own criticism from union members when he was in Peninsula. In December, the teachers’ union held a vote of no-confidence in his handling of the pandemic. In April, staff at Harbor Heights Elementary criticized the district’s hiring process of a new principal. They said it had been rushed, without proper opportunity for feedback, and was part of a series of problems that had led to “an extraordinary turnover of five principals in seven years.”
But Jarvis was also widely credited with helping pass a $198 million bond issue in 2019 that allowed the district to build two new elementary schools and upgrade two others. It was the first bond issue to pass in the district in 15 years, following six consecutive failures.
In the release announcing he would be taking on the new role, Jarvis said he was “honored to have been selected by the Board of Directors to serve in Bellevue.”
“This is a wonderful place, a lighthouse district, and there are so many great staff members here. I look forward to forging partnerships that expand supports for students,” Jarvis said “An essential component of my job is to help make it all come together for a full return in the Fall.”
The approval of Jarvis as interim superintendent was done at the board’s meeting Tuesday. Board members said the reason they did not select a full-time replacement was that “an interim leader will best support district administration as the additional experienced capacity allows staff to maintain their current roles rather than shifting expertise at this critical juncture.”
Joel Aune, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA), said that districts opt to hire interim superintendents for a variety of factors, most notably timing.
“This is a little bit more common than, say, what we saw ten years ago,” Aune said. “Timing is an issue and so, right now it’s obviously April-May. That generally is a little bit late in the timeline for looking for a superintendent, because some superintendents that are currently under contract, there is a point where you’re not necessarily looking to leave your current district for another job when it gets to be May-June-July-August. That’s just not desirable.”
Aune said he “wouldn’t say that there is a shortage of qualified shortage of superintendent candidates” overall, though the recent rise of open positions may have impacted the quality of applicants left over.
“We’re seeing more superintendent openings this year than we’ve seen in quite a number of years,” Aune said. “The pool of superintendents available right now because of those factors and timing wise may not be as deep as normal.”
Jarvis had technically been the interim superintendent in Peninsula, serving there since 2018 after the board extended his contract several times, most recently in 2020. Jarvis indicated he would retire in June, though the new position will mark his fifth interim position since he first “retired” in 2007.
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 10:35 AM.
