EV Superintendent Candidates Interviewed

This week and next, the East Valley School District is conducting day-long interviews with three finalists for its school superintendent position.

Les Portner, superintendent at the Wilbur (Wash.) School District, spent Thursday in East Valley. Douglas Snyder, assistant superintendent at Issaquah (Wash.) School District, will be in East Valley on Monday. Bennet Acker, superintendent of Castle Rock (Wash.) School District, will spend Wednesday in the district.

The search for a new leader has left school board members impressed with their candidates and exhilarated by the amount of help they’ve received, said Marie Francis, chairwoman of the school board.

The board asked 24 people to help them narrow the field to three finalists. The group included district administrators, union representatives, parents and community members.

“It was extremely helpful and informative” to get comment from the panel, Francis said. “Our patrons’ input was valuable … They’re extremely astute people.”

After two four-hour interview sessions with eight semifinalists, lengthy meetings to choose the finalists, and a full day interview process on Thursday, the board members have put in heavy hours.

“Haven’t, haven’t, haven’t,” Francis said, describing how much sleep she got this week.

“My heart goes out to them,” Karl Maw, consultant with the Washington State School Directors Association said of the five EV school board members. “They have other lives - called earning a living. They invest a lot of time and energy into the job.”

As one would expect, different people have different hopes for the new superintendent.

Integrity, experience in running a mid-size district, and a combination of leadership and management skills are tops for Francis.

“The priority for us is that the new superintendent has a strong background in curriculum, with direct knowledge of and involvemnt in school reform; someone who understands the need for involvement of all members of the education community,” said Jim Nelson, president of the East Valley Education Association.

“We hope for a team builder, one who can recognize the value of taking risks. Someone who in fact, not in theory, has an open-door policy, and is visible in the schools. We hope for someone who can motivate by modeling, and working to the same standards and rigor expected of others.

“The roles of parent, student and teacher and support staff are evolving - which means, so must that of the role of the superintendent,” Nelson said.

Parent Dave Burgett also sat in on interviews as a panel member. He was particularly interested in communication skills.

“I call it face time. The superintendent has a lot of face time with the public, the district, the teachers, the parents. I learned that well from (retiring Superintendent) Chuck Stocker,” Burgett said.

“He is the district, actually. And of course he has to be out there in the forefront, advertising our district as No. 1,” said Shirley Moser, secretary to the superintendent.

Moser, who was a member of the advisory panel earlier this week, has worked under three East Valley superintendents. This will be her fourth. “It must be time to retire,” she quipped.

School board members hope to announce the new superintendent by the end of school on Friday.

EV candidate profiles These are the three finalists for the East Valley School District superintendent’s job: Bennet Acker Education: doctorate in education in 1983 from Washington State University; masters in education in 1973; and bachelors degree in 1970 from Central Washington University. Work experience: Superintendent of schools, Castle Rock (Wash.) School District, 1989 to present. The district has 1,200 students. Between 1980 and ‘89, he was principal at elementary and high school levels in Ridgefield School District in Clark County. Acker has also taught education at WSU and CWU. He began his teaching career in 1974 in Vancouver, Wash. Personal: Acker, 50, is married and has two children.

Douglas Snyder Education: masters degree in education in 1979 from Western Washington University; bachelors in 1971 from the University of Washington. Work experience: Assistant superintendent in Issaquah, Wash., 1993 to present. The school district has 12,585 students. Snyder held a couple of administrative positions for one year each, including that of assistant business manager for Walla Walla Public Schools. He was principal of a junior high in Walla Walla for four years, and started his teaching career in 1971 in the Clover Park School District in Pierce County. Personal: Snyder, 49, has been married 29 years and has three children.

Lester Portner Education: doctorate in education in 1997 from WSU; masters in education and administration in 1976; and bachelors in 1970 from CWU. Work exerience: Superintendent for the Wilbur School District, 1992 to present. The school district has 300 students. Administrative assistant for the St. John Endicott Cooperative School Districts, 1990-‘92. Portner was high school principal in Elma, Wash., from 1983-‘90, assistant principal of two secondary schools in Camas, Wash., and Auburn, Wash., between 1973 and 1983. He began his teaching career in Ellensburg in 1970. Personal: Portner is 50 years old, married, with three children.