PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend School Board has chosen four superintendent finalists.
One of the finalists, Mellody Matthes, had been a finalist during a Port Townsend superintendent search in 2010 who dropped out of consideration to take an assistant superintendent position in the Tukwila School District.
The other three finalists are:
■ John R. Alberghini of Waterbury Center, Vt., who is the superintendent of Chittenden East Supervisory Union in Richmond, Vt.
■ David Engle of Lawrenceville, N.J., who is not employed at present, School Board President Jennifer James-Wilson said.
Engle holds a doctorate, and his experience includes work in North Platte, Neb., as a school superintendent, said James-Wilson said, adding that he had taken a position at a textbook company in New Jersey and is from the Pacific Northwest.
■ Ellen Perconti is from Clarkston, which is just over the state line from Lewiston, Idaho. She serves as the director of curriculum and assessment in the Lewiston Independent School District.
The School Board selected the four finalists from 23 applicants during a special meeting that ended late Saturday afternoon.
The new superintendent is to start in July, following the departure of Gene Laes after two years as superintendent.
Board members will interview all four finalists during a closed executive session this Saturday, James-Wilson said.
Each finalist will visit the district and meet the public the following week, she said.
Matthes had been chosen as one of three finalists for the position during a search in 2010, after Tom Opstad, who served in the position for five years, announced he would leave to lead the Aberdeen School District.
Matthes had dropped out of consideration, along with another finalist, leaving the School Board with one finalist to consider.
The board elected instead to offer another year at the helm to Laes, then serving as interim superintendent, who accepted at a continued annual salary of $96,000, working four days each week.
At the time, Matthes — who was then the executive director of human resources at the Oak Harbor School District — said the Tukwila district offered her a salary “significantly higher” than the $120,000 a year offered by Port Townsend, and the district had been pressuring her for a decision.
Opstad had been earning was earning about $115,000 a year in Port Townsend.
Saturday’s interviews will begin at 8:30 a.m., James-Wilson said, adding that the location had not been chosen yet.
The meeting will not be open to the general public, but staff and community observers will be invited to the executive session to share their input with the board.
Each of the four candidates then will be assigned a day to visit the district from Monday, March through Thursday, March 8.
The board plans to make its final decision sometime in March after the finalists’ visits, James-Wilson said.
Superintendent search consultants McPherson & Jacobson will assist in the review of finalists.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
