Port Angeles schools superintendent to retire in 2014; why she stayed an extra year

PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles School District Superintendent Jane Pryne will retire at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

Pryne announced her June 30, 2014, retirement in an email sent to staff Tuesday morning.

She plans to submit a formal letter to the Port Angeles School Board at a later date.

“After 37 years in education, and 12 of those years spent as a superintendent in two different states, I am hanging up my high heels in favor of running shoes,” Pryne said in the letter.

Pryne, 58, became the Port Angeles district superintendent July 1, 2009, after serving seven years as superintendent of a district in the Tucson, Ariz., area and a year as interim superintendent in another Tucson-area district.

Pryne is paid $141,432.

Pryne said she initially intended to stay with the district for four years.

During the past four years, the district’s graduation rate improved, test scores are increasing, all-day kindergarten was instituted, and school counselors were reinstated to the elementary schools, Pryne said Thursday.

“This is a great year to be here,” she said.

In 2012, when former Deputy Associate Superintendent Michelle Reid became a finalist for superintendent positions in other districts, Pryne chose to stay for another year so the district would not be left with both top administrator positions empty, she said.

Reid eventually was selected to become superintendent of the South Kitsap School District and departed for that job June 30.

The board selected Mary Ann Unger, a former Port Angeles administrator and teacher from 1993 until her retirement in 2011, as interim deputy associate superintendent .

Unger is expected to remain in her role as the superintendent’s deputy until permanent selections are made for both positions, and the new superintendent will take part in the search for a permanent deputy, Pryne said.

Pryne discussed her impending departure with the School Board in January, she said.

The board is expected to begin the process to find a new superintendent at its Oct. 10 board meeting, put out a request for a search firm and select a firm in November.

Pryne’s husband, Jim Pryne, is a retired high school principal.

The Prynes own homes in Port Angeles and Arizona. Jane Pryne said Thursday they had not decided where to settle after retirement.

“We’ll see if we want to do the snowbird thing,” she said.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.