Bonner Schools Pick Californian As District Head New Superintendent’s First Priority Is To Meet Residents, Employees

Bonner County schools have a new superintendent.

The Bonner County School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Californian Max Harrell, 52, to head the district.

The vote ended a six-month search.

Harrell will be paid $72,500 a year, board chairman Blaine Stevens said.

Harrell is assistant superintendent of the 2,600-student Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified School District in central California. He has been there two years.

Before that, Harrell was superintendent of California’s Butte Valley Unified School District for five years.

He has worked as a principal and special education teacher in California and Delaware.

Bonner school board members recently visited the Dos Palos Oro Loma district to see how parents and teachers feel about Harrell.

“The only negative thing we could find was that he was leaving,” said Stevens.

Board members were impressed by Harrell’s leadership skills and the size of his school district, Stevens said.

Most of the 25 applicants for the Bonner job came from smaller districts than Harrell’s. Bonner has 6,000 students.

Harrell said he hopes to start his new job by July 1.

His first priority, he said, is getting to know community residents and school employees.

“I need to get to know the participants,” he said.

“We are in the people business.”

His long-term goals, he said, include helping the district build more classrooms.

“They need building space,” he said.

“The district is growing, and it looks like the schools are pretty much at capacity in terms of space for students.”

Harrell will replace acting Superintendent Leonard Parenteau, who took over after embattled Superintendent Gary Barton resigned in October.

Several teachers accused Barton of calling them at home and threatening them over stalled salary negotiations.

Parenteau, who is retiring, did not want the superintendent post.