EV Superintendent List Down To 8 Candidates

Thu., May 28, 1998

By Marny Lombard marnyl@spokesman.com (509) 927-2166

The East Valley School Board has winnowed its field of school superintendent candidates down to eight semi-finalists.

Shelley Harding, principal of Trent Elementary School, is the lone local candidate among the semi-finalists.

Others are superintendents or assistant superintendents of small school districts scattered mostly across Eastern Washington.

East Valley Superintendent Chuck Stocker has announced he will retire at the end of June. The school board received 16 applications in its efforts to hire Stocker’s successor.

Other semi-finalists are:

Bennet Acker, superintendent of the Castle Rock School District in Cowlitz County. The district has about 1,200 students.

Richard Cole, superintendent at the Colville School District, which has about 2,700 students.

Douglas Snyder, assistant superintendent at the Issaquah School District, with about 11,000 students enrolled.

Ray Tolcacher, superintendent at the Prosser School District, where about 2,700 students are enrolled.

Marcia Costello, superintendent at the Chewelah School District. The district has about 1,200 students.

Lester Portner, superintendent at the Wilbur School District, with about 300 students.

William Thurston, superintendent at the combined Garfield-Palouse districts, with about 450 students.

The first interviews will occur Monday and Tuesday in public meetings that will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. each day. Questions will be prepared in advance, and each interview is expected to run about 45 minutes. Sessions will be held in the boardroom at the EV administrative building at 12325 E. Grace.

The school board is assembling a panel of about 20 patrons and employees of the district to help with the process. That panel will be asked to give their written comments on the semi-finalists to the school board.

The board’s goal is to choose three finalists next week. Each finalist will spend a day in the EV district. School board members will spend a day visiting each finalist’s district.

The board expects to announce its choice for the job at its June 9 board meeting, said board chairwoman Marie Francis. The district has contracted with consultant Karl Maw to help with the search.

“They do have one of the better fields of superintendent candidates I’ve looked at this year,” Maw said. “People obviously think it’s a pretty good district.”

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