The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG—Interviews of five Waitsburg School District superintendent applicants are scheduled for Mon., April 22 and Wed., April 24.

Search advisor Dr. Bill Jordan vetted applications and performed background checks before bringing applications before the school board for final selections on April 8.

Board chair said the board selected six applicants, but one has withdrawn.

“They look like very strong candidates. We are very pleased with the final candidate pool that we had to review. We spent considerable time going over the candidate packets and felt very good and came to consensus on who we wanted to see in the interview process,” said Board Chair Ross Hamann.

Hamann said that the board decided to allow applicants to live within a 30-mile radius of the school, as opposed to within the district, in order to attract stronger applicants.

“Early on in the process we weren’t getting applications. We asked our advisor what we could do, and we were made aware of a very strong candidate that was interested but lived outside the district. After lengthy discussion, the board did decide to allow that 30-mile radius, which is a common standard, nowadays,” Hamann said.

“Once we did that, we did see an increase in applications,” he added.

The final applicants will be interviewed by the board, in front of an observation panel. The panel will not ask questions but will provide input to the board following the interviews.

Hamann said the observation panel consists of 10 community members including staff, representatives from each building as well as maintenance.

“We’re ready to learn more about them (the applicants) and get ready for the hard business of narrowing it down,” Hamann said.