Days of interviews, campus tours and public forums didn’t bear any fruit for the Coupeville School District.
The school board unanimously decided Thursday evening not to offer the district’s superintendent position to any of the finalists who were paraded around the schools.
The three candidates for the superintendent position were Ron Franklin, superintendent of the King’s Way Christian School System in Vancouver, Wash.; Rob Clark, director of federal and special programs for the Eastmont School District in East Wenatchee; and Clayton Mork, graduate instructor and interim field supervisor at Western Washington University.
The candidates each spent one day in the school district visiting with students and staff before attending a public forum during the evening.
The board members met in a brief executive session Thursday evening before publicly deciding against offering a job to any of the finalists.
Jeff Tasoff, vice-president of the Coupeville School Board, said the three men were all qualified and passionate about their work.
“They just didn’t really align with our needs. … We just didn’t have that perfect fit,” Tasoff said Friday.
The school district had hired a firm, MacPherson and Jacobson, to coordinate the superintendent search. The firm will help find an interim superintendent and assist with the search next year. The school board had previously approved a $6,500 contract, plus expenses, to conduct a superintendent search.
Tasoff said the school district will also work with the Educational Service District to find the temporary superintendent.
The search for a permanent superintendent will resume next winter.
The current superintendent, Patty Page, is resigning her position to take a position with the North Kitsap School District. She is completing the school year in Coupeville.
Because she announced her resignation in March, the school district was on an abbreviated schedule to find a suitable replacement. Her resignation came at a time when other school districts had already filled superintendent positions.
Coupeville board members have said since the beginning of the search process that they were more interested in finding the right candidate than being forced into filling the position.
Tasoff said he would like to see an interim superintendent hired before Page’s tenure in Coupeville ends, which would provide some continuity. Her last day will be June 30.
