SEQUIM — Brian Kuh, executive director of EDC Team Jefferson and president of Citizens for Sequim Schools, has been chosen to fill the Sequim School Board position vacated by retiring board member Beverly Horan.
The Sequim School District’s board appointed Kuh, selecting him from a field of nine applicants, on Monday night.
Kuh, who helped campaign for the district’s recently approved levies, said after the November general election he felt inspired to work for change locally.
“I want to strive to make opportunities better for our community and kids,” he said after being sworn in.
“Facility needs haven’t gone away, though. I want to find out what the community is willing to support going forward with our next facility plan.”
Board President Robin Henrikson said they chose Kuh for a number of reasons, including his experience on a number of community boards and his views on community engagement.
Kuh said coffee talks, Q&A’s and meetings at watering holes are some of the ways to outreach, saying being a school board member is a 24/7 job.
He was one of five finalists and nine applicants for Horan’s position. She resigned March 7, with Monday’s board meeting her last after more than 11 years.
Kuh was chosen over finalists Brian Berg, a retired Sequim School District teacher; Jessica Hernandez, executive director of the Port Angeles Food Bank; Brandino Gibson, supervisor for Clallam and Jefferson County WorkSource; and Becky Mitchell, a stay-at-home mom.
Per board policy, Henrikson said, finalists were narrowed to five. Other applicants included Henry Howe, Brandon Janisse, Nola Judd and Richard Labrecque. Horan was not part of the interview or decision.
Board directors reviewed the applicants’ resumes and applications March 17 and held public interviews Monday during the regular school board meeting.
Henrikson said the decision was hard to make because all of the finalists were “amazing” and she encouraged them to file for the two open board positions during the filing period May 15-19.
Kuh will serve through the end of the year.
In the interview, Kuh said the biggest strength of the school district is the number of talented youths in the community while its weakness is not receiving enough funding “to keep our facilities up to a minimum standards we can all agree upon.”
“I’m envious of other communities that don’t have to shake the trees as hard,” he said.
Kuh, who has two children attending Helen Haller Elementary and one in Sequim Middle School, also said one priority for him is to continue providing opportunities for career-readiness as students graduate from high school.
Between candidate interviews and an executive session, Henrikson commented on correspondence between her and Howe about transparency and the selection process, saying that Howe acted inappropriately via email and text.
Howe differed with other board members at a March 7 board meeting, saying that choosing a replacement for Horan seemed rushed with candidate filing in May and that he/she could have an unfair advantage in running in May. He also questioned why the decision wasn’t discussed in a public meeting.
Henrikson said Monday she made the decision as board president and that board input was available beforehand on OneNote, a computer program that allows directors and district administrators to share information.
Henrikson said she feels she made a good call that a quicker appointment gives the new director more experience and that it’s not in the best interest of the district to wait.
She told Howe in the meeting it was “unprofessional to accuse me of breaking our board policy” and “inappropriate to turn things personal in emails.”
In a recent email between them, Henrikson said Howe stated “transparency is different than in reality” among the board members.
Henrikson said she feels the board makes a large effort to be transparent and that a follow-up text message from Howe was inappropriate about the process.
“You overstepped your level of professionalism in an invasion of my personal space and it’s just sort of creepy,” she said.
Henrikson said she would block Howe from her phone if he sent a similar message again.
“If I don’t respond to your emails in the future, it’s because you most likely talked to me inappropriately,” she said.
Howe said in a telephone interview he regrets the text message to Henrikson, which asked if the board members would form questions in public.
“I have no ill feelings toward Robin,” Howe said. “She was obviously troubled. I totally respect Robin and I shouldn’t have texted her.”
His bigger issue with the process, he said, was not opening the discussion process in public.
“Like we did when Sarah Bedinger resigned, we talked about it in public,” Howe said.
“I didn’t necessarily see that discussion on OneNote. Even if it is there, I feel we should have talked about it in public.”
Henrikson said Monday that OneNote has sensitive information on it that is not all available for the public.
However, Howe said he feels OneNote should be available to the public and he has no problem opening OneNote or his emails for anyone who wants to see them.
For more information about Sequim schools, visit www.sequimschools.wednet.edu or call 360-582-3260.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
