Sequim schools Assistant Superintendent Renker stepping down

Sequim schools Assistant Superintendent Renker stepping down

SEQUIM — Ann Renker, assistant superintendent for the Sequim School District, is resigning her position at the end of this month.

Renker is stepping down from the No. 2 administration role after “a family medical situation has prompted [her] to make this difficult decision,” according to a statement from the district.

Renker joined the school district in 2015 as interim assistant superintendent of teaching and learning before the position was renamed.

“I have enjoyed my work in Sequim and will leave a little of my heart here when I go,” Renker said in the statement.

“I simply know that I’ll need a lot of flexibility to provide assistance to my family when it’s needed, and you just can’t do this job justice unless you can be 100 percent dedicated and available when staff and students need you.”

Because of the timing of Renker’s announcement, the Sequim School Board is considering the possibility of filling the position on an interim basis, district officials said this week.

Sequim staff will look to Educational Service District 114 to provide educational services while Renker’s position remains open, district officials said this week.

Superintendent Gary Neal said Renker will be missed.

“Ann helped bring our school district into compliance in a number of challenging areas, and she brought a fresh perspective that helped move our curricular program forward in important ways,” Neal said.

“We are going to miss her wisdom and her innovation, but we are better as a system for having had her here while we did.”

Renker described herself as a “change agent” after years of changing the education culture on Clallam County’s West End for the better part of two decades.

Prior to her Sequim position, she worked for 20 years with the Cape Flattery School District and spent a year working as a leadership coach with the state’s Office of Student and School Success.

In 1993, Renker joined the Cape Flattery School District as an ESL (English as a second language) teacher and bilingual coordinator, ensuring students had opportunities to study Makah language and culture.

She spent the next 20 years with the district, the past nine as secondary school principal for Neah Bay’s Markishtum Middle School and Neah Bay High School that serve the Makah Indian Reservation.

For the 2014-15 school year, Renker worked within a division of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction as a leadership coach, including some time working with some staff and administrators at Sequim Middle School.

________

Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.

More in News

Tim Morland, front, and Rich Lear of Tualatin, Ore.-based Field Turf USA add fill to the playing surface at the new Monroe Athletic Field on Tuesday at the site of the former Monroe School near Roosevelt Elementary School in Port Angeles. The synthetic turf field, which is expected to be completed by mid-autumn, is being developed by the Port Angeles School District and will be available for community athletic events. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Monroe field prep

Tim Morland, front, and Rich Lear of Tualatin, Ore.-based Field Turf USA… Continue reading

Petitions developed by local citizens seek to keep the “new” Towne Road unpaved and open to hikers and walkers. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
Public comment sought about Sequim’s Towne Road future

Meeting for residents scheduled for Tuesday

Eran Kennedy.
Sound regional publisher stresses local connections

Partnerships offer lifeline despite struggling industry

A crew from Port Townsend Public Works watches as a backhoe removes water-logged timber from a sinkhole on Kearney Street outside the Food Co-op on Tuesday at the start of construction of a traffic circle at the intersection of state Highway 20/East Sims Way and Kearney Street in Port Townsend. Traffic heading eastbound toward Port Townsend will detour at Benedict Street and turn left on Washington Street to return to Highway 20/East Sims Way. Traffic going westbound away from Port Townsend will turn right at Kearney Street and left onto Jefferson Street to continue on Highway 20. The detour configuration will last about four weeks, according to the state Department of Transportation. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Roundabout construction

A crew from Port Townsend Public Works watches as a backhoe removes… Continue reading

Members of the Bagley family of Forsyth, Ill., from left, parents Jessica and Cameron Bagley, and children Cody, 10, Addie, 12, and C.J., 7, look at an information kiosk on the Olympic National Park wildfires on Tuesday in front of the park visitor center in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Blazes spread in center of Olympic National Park

Large helicopters requested to keep fires at bay

Wreck shuts down US 101 south of Brinnon for five hours

A semitrailer driver accused of falling asleep at the wheel… Continue reading

Peninsula College sophomores Ian Coughran, left, and Ciera Skelly were two of seven students participating in the inaugural Pathway Summer School at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory this summer that focused on education and career development in STEM fields. Both Coughran and Skelly plan to pursue degrees in environmental science. (Paula Hunt/Peninsula Daily News)
Internship through college presents career pathways

Students part of inaugural class at Sequim laboratory

Bathrooms possible at Ridge in November

Utility project may allow winter access

Most Read