By Paige Dickerson
JOYCE – Crescent School interim Superintendent Tom Anderson has agreed with the School Board to stay on as top administrator another year.
He took the position after Superintendent Doug Kubalek suffered a stroke on Aug. 5.
Kubalek died about a week and a half later, and Anderson agreed to stay on in the position for the remainder of the year.
Anderson acts as both the district’s superintendent and school principal, as Kubalek did.
“When I first came on, we didn’t know how serious the stroke was, but I was just helping out some friends,” Anderson said.
Anderson, who worked as a principal and assistant superintendent in Port Angeles for 33 years, was already familiar with the staff at Crescent and came out of retirement to take the position.
“We’re really pleased that he is interested in staying another year as interim for us,” Tracey Grover, a member of the School Board, said.
When the board proposed that Anderson stay, he said he would be happy to, provided that it was what the staff wanted.
“I wanted to make sure it was what the staff would want,” Anderson said. “If they wanted another year of transition, I said I would be glad to stay on.
“If they were ready for the board to find a new superintendent, then they could go on with that.”
So the School Board sent out a survey asking the faculty and staff what they thought.
Every staff and faculty member of the district got a survey for Anderson’s annual evaluation.
“We had a huge percentage of people respond,” Grover said.
“They were all pretty pleased that we had asked and all pretty positive about the job that he had done.
“He’s a caring and sensitive person and we wanted someone that would be sympathetic to the needs and the grief.”
Because Anderson is a retired administrator his contract can only be renewed for one year at a time, Grover said.
In January or February, the board will reevaluate whether to look for a new superintendent, or keep Anderson on.
Anderson’s contract last year was in the $90,000-a-year range, Grover said.
It would be renewed with the pay increase allotted by the state.
