PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles school administrator is moving into the university world.
Gerald Gabbard, assistant superintendent of the Port Angeles School District, announced Wednesday that he will leave the school district at the end of January.
Gabbard has accepted an appointment at Concordia University in Portland, Ore., as the chair of administrator programs and associate professor at the school’s College of Education.
He is scheduled to begin his new duties in Oregon on Feb. 1.
“We wish Gerald all the very best and thank him for his service. This is a great opportunity in higher education for him and one for which he is well-suited,” said Marc Jackson, superintendent of the Port Angeles School District.
Efforts to reach Gabbard on Thursday were unsuccessful.
The district will select an interim and will seek a permanent assistant superintendent to begin in July 2016, said Tina Smith-O’Hara, spokeswoman for the district.
A number of Port Angeles School District administrators have left in the past three years.
Superintendent Jane Pryne departed after five years at the helm of the district, and Marc Jackson took over in July 2014.
Gabbard was hired by Jackson in July 2014, replacing interim assistant superintendent Mary Ann Unger, who had replaced Michelle Reid in July 2013.
Finance director David Knechtel and human resources director Scott Harker are both in their first year at the Port Angeles School District.
Smith O’Hara noted that the majority of the administrators at the district’s eight schools have been with the district for many years.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
