EVSD to select superindentent Saturday
Facing competition from Central Valley, the East Valley School District board is speeding up its decision on hiring a new superintendent by holding a special meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday for a final vote on the job candidates.
The candidates are visiting the district this week for interviews with students, staff and the public. The board is holding an executive session each night to ask the candidates questions. Leslee McLachlan, president of the East Valley Education Association, expressed concern at Tuesday night’s meeting that the board’s questions aren’t being made public like the questions being asked by other groups. “Nobody knows what your questions are,” she said.
Board president Kerri Lunstroth said the board wants to have spontaneity in their interviews and for the candidates to be outspoken. “It’s not fair to release those questions in advance,” she said. “We want the candidate to be frank with us.”
McLaughlin also asked why the board is moving so fast in making its final decision. The last interview is scheduled for Friday night, just hours before the special meeting.
Lunstroth said the board had always promised to make a decision by April 22, but now finds itself in direct competition with the superintendent search at Central Valley.
“We have two of our candidates who are interviewing at Central Valley,” she said. “We did not anticipate that.”
Saturday’s special meeting will begin in private, where board members will review input forms filled out by staff and community members and go over each candidates’ qualifications. Then they’ll meet in a public session to vote for the next superintendent.
The candidates are Glen Szymoniak, assistant superintendent, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, Soldotna, Alaska; John Glenewinkel, superintendent, Ellensburg School District; Debra Howard, current interim superintendent at East Valley; and Peter Lewis, superintendent, Clarkston School District. Both Howard and Lewis are also candidates for the Central Valley superintendent position.