JOYCE — The new Crescent School District superintendent is Clayton Mork, a graduate instructor at Western Washington University.
Mork, 59, accepted the job offer Thursday night, said present superintendent Tom Anderson on Friday.
Mork, who holds a doctorate, replaces Anderson, 66, who announced in March that he is retiring after six years at the district’s helm.
“I’m thrilled to have been offered the position,” said Mork, who will move to Joyce from Indianola, on Saturday.
“I’m really looking forward to working there.”
The terms of his contract will be worked out during the next couple of weeks, Anderson said, and Mork will begin work at the Joyce school district July 1.
Before then, he plans to visit often to acquaint himself with the district, which this school year had about 230 students attending its brick-and-mortar schools and about 109 in the Crescent School District HomeConnection program.
Mork plans to attend the June 16 graduation.
He will serve as both superintendent and principal of the elementary, middle and high schools, as well as the HomeConnection program.
Mork said he visited every classroom and “was really impressed with all the people there and with the quality education that was going on.
“They’ve just got in all respects an excellent school district,” he said.
He said he has “a passion for helping struggling learners . . . so I am interested in learning what they are doing” in that area.
Mork is former assistant superintendent at the Bainbridge School District. He also has served as principal at Woodward Middle School on Bainbridge Island and as assistant middle school principal in the Monroe School District, where he also taught math and science.
Education
He earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in education administration from Western Washington University and a doctorate from Seattle Pacific University.
He is a single dad whose 16-year-old son, Bennett Mork, will finish out his high school education in Indianola while living with his mother, Mork said.
The Crescent School Board chose Mork from four finalists.
Others were Edwina Hargrave, program administrator at Stevenson-Carson School District in Stevenson; Martin Schmidt, former superintendent of the Gorman School District in the Los Angeles area; and Jack Dalton, assistant principal of Grandview Middle School in Grandview.
All of the finalists visited the district last week.
________
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
