SEQUIM — Each of the four finalists for Sequim School District superintendent will meet the public at forums during visits to the district this week.
Visits are scheduled Monday through Thursday.
The finalists will tour schools and facilities, answer questions at public forums and face the School Board for final interviews behind closed doors.
Each candidate will meet with district staff at 4:30 p.m. each day and with the public at 5 p.m. for forums at the high school library, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Busy week for candidates
It will be a busy week for the board, its president said, adding that she believes the best candidates possible are being considered.
“We are really comfortable with the search team,” said Sarah Bedinger, who along with other School Board members last year hired Richard Parker, state consultant for the firm of McPherson & Jacobson, who is based in Langley.
The finalists selected from a field of 26 candidates in February are:
■ Kelly Shea, executive director of human services at Mead School District in Mead, who will visit the district Monday.
■ Robert Maxwell, executive director of special programs, Bethel School District, Bethel, who will visit the district Tuesday.
■ Mellody Matthes, assistant superintendent at Tukwila School District in Tukwila, who will visit the district Wednesday.
■ Robert Kuehl, assistant superintendent at Tumwater School District in Tumwater, who will visit the district Thursday.
For the forum, each finalist has been asked to prepare a 20-minute presentation, integrating technology as if for a School Board meeting, Bedinger said.
The presentation is to give a brief introduction of background and experiences in education, share insights into the future direction of public education — specifically identifying the opportunities and challenges for change — and describe how the finalist’s leadership will support the district in moving from “good to great,” Bedinger said.
School Board members are scheduled to go into closed executive session at 2 p.m. Friday and reconvene in public session by 4 p.m. to decide upon their selection.
Bedinger was on the School Board that hired Superintendent Bill Bentley, who has headed the district for five years and is leaving for personal reasons in June.
Finalists’ experience
Here are details on the finalists’ experience:
■ Shea, who started his career in 1987 as a teacher, has been serving for the past five years as executive director of the Mead School District in Spokane.
He also was an elementary school principal for 10 years in the Central Valley and Mead school districts.
He began his professional education career working for 10 years as an elementary teacher in the Spokane School District.
Shea graduated from Whitworth College, earning a degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in reading.
He earned his superintendent credentials from Washington State University.
■ Maxwell has spent the past eight years as special services director in the Bethel district.
Since 1994, he also has worked as a principal and assistant principal in Bethel.
He began teaching in 1991 at Pinion Mesa Middle School in the Snowline Joint Unified School District.
Maxwell earned a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University in fish and wildlife management and a master’s degree from Azusa Pacific University in school administration.
His doctorate degree from Washington State University was in education.
■ Matthes, an educator since 1994, is in her second year as assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in the Tukwila School District.
Prior to that, she was executive director of human resources in the Oak Harbor School District for six years.
She has been a high school principal and assistant principal in Shelton.
She also has experience as a high school English teacher in the Kent, Federal Way and Central Kitsap school districts.
Matthes earned a degree in speech and drama at Washington State University.
She earned a master’s degree in educational administration from Western Washington University and her doctorate degree from Washington State University in educational leadership.
Matthes also has been a finalist — twice — for the superintendent post of the Port Townsend School District.
She was a finalist in the Port Townsend 2010 search but took herself out of the running to accept the Tukwila job and was one of four the School Board considered this month when it selected David Engle of Lawrenceville, N.J., on March 9.
■ Kuehl has held several positions other than assistant superintendent in his 31-year career at Tumwater School District.
Those positions included director of capital projects and district programs, director of secondary programs, principal, assistant principal and teacher.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Washington University.
He received a master’s degree in administration from the University of Puget Sound and his superintendent credentials from Washington State University.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.