Update on principal search….

Rick Thompson

San Juan Island Superintendent Rick Thompson says the search committee for an elementary school principal has narrowed the field to two, who will have extended visits to the island next week. Here’s his report:

Here is an update on the FHES principal search.

After screening 28 applications last week, the search committee interviewed 7 semi-finalists this week. Four were interviewed on Monday and three were interviewed today.  The interviews were conducted at the district office.  Each member of the search committee participated in the interviews for each semi-finalist.  Candidates were screened qualitatively as well as quantitatively in order to ensure the most reliable screening.

Candidates were asked to respond to a variety of questions about educational leadership.  Following the team interviews, each candidate was asked to respond to a writing prompt which was also considered in the screening and scoring process.  After careful discussion about candidate strengths in light of the position description, two finalists were asked to interview next week.  Both finalists were described as strong candidates, and were selected among the top three finalists identified by consensus of the committee.

The candidates will spend the whole day in the district, meeting with students, staff, parents, and community members next week.

The candidates and dates are as follows:

Wednesday May 11, 2011.  Denise Wheeler. Denise comes to the district with a wide variety of leadership experiences including that of elementary principal and program director.  She has served in Wyoming and Montana.  Denise’s experience, dedication to students, and personable manner earned her high marks with the search committee.  She will be on campus from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.  The community forum will be held in the FHES library from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

Thursday May 12, 2011.  Joseph Landerman. Joe is completing his doctoral work in education.  He has earned a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and was named Georgia’s distinguished principal in 2009.  Joe has principal experience at the elementary and middle school levels.  He is currently practicing in the state of Georgia.  Joe is scheduled to be on campus from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm on May 12, with the community forum from 6:00 to 7:00 pm again in the FHES library.

Following both interviews, the search committee will reconvene on May 13 to confer about staff and community feedback and to consider offering a position, subject to reference checks and approval by the SJISD Board of Directors.

For further information contact Rick Thompson, Superintendent at (360) 378-4133.

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